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Narrative of the Lajt Sicknefs & Death 

of 
Dame Chrijlian Forbes 



Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. 



NARRATIVE 



OF THE 



Laft Sicknefs and Death 



OF 



DAME CHRISTIAN FORBES 



BY HER SON 

SIR WILLIAM FORBES 

SIXTH BARONET OF MONYMUSK AND PITSLIGO 



1789 



In adversis major, par secundis. 



EDINBURGH 
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS 

1875 






" Signoreggia Forbeffe il forte Armano 
Che di bianco e di nero ha la bandiera." 

Ariofto, Orlando Furiofo, x. 87. 



^% 10 £ 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following pages are printed from the original 
manufcript in the handwriting of Sir William Forbes, 
now in the poffeffion of Mrs. Forbes, relicl of the 
diftinguifhed James David Forbes, D.C.L., Principal 
of the United Colleges of St. Salvator and St. 
Leonard, in the Univerfity of St. Andrews. It was 
bequeathed to her by Mifs Jane Forbes of Pitfligo, 
her fifter-in-law, who died 23d June 1871. A 
copy is preferved at Fettercairn Houfe, Kincardine- 
fhire. 

The original work contains, befides what is now 
given to the public, a narrative of the laft fick- 
nefs and death of Lady Forbes, the wife of the 
author ; but valuable as it is as a family record to 
thofe who are lineally defcended from her, it does not 
contain fuch topics of intereft as entitles it to publi- 
cation. On the other hand, it is hoped that the 
Memoir of his mother will well repay perufal by all 
to whom the ftruggles of an ancient and honourable 
houfe, reduced by political and other caufes to the 



Introduction. 



depth of depreftion, and the fuccefsful iffue of fuch 
ftruggles, are the obje6ls of a generous fympathy. 
Moreover, there are indications of manners and 
habits now obfolete which deferve the notice of the 
antiquary. Remarkable contrafts between the focial 
and economic condition of Scotland of thefe times 
and the prefent day exhibit themfelves ; and pictures 
of old-fafhioned ways, flight, indeed, but fufficiently 
clear, illuftrate the mighty change in the condition of 
Scotland which took place in the hiftory of the fub- 
je<5t of this Memoir. A life which ftretched from 
April 14, 1705, to December 26, 1789, muft contain 
many fubjects of intereft. In the year in which 
Chriflian Forbes was born Oueen Anne had reigned 
only three years. Marlborough was in the zenith of 
his glory. The war of the Spanifh fucceflion was 
raeinof. And at home the intrigues of the Hanoverians 
and Jacobites made the Court a fcene of faction. 
Peter the Great was creating Ruflia in the teeth of 
the attacks of Charles XII. And as a living link 
between older and more modern times, Catharine of 
Braganza, the ill-ufed queen of our Charles II., died 
in this very year. In France the great Janfeniftic 
controverfy was raging, and the celebrated Bull, 
" Vineam Domini Sabaoth," was published by Cle- 
ment IX. In Scotland the Union with England 



Introduction. 



was not confummated. Of the condition of her 
native Aberdeenfhire, we have the almoft contempo- 
rary " View of the Diocefe of Aberdeen," by the Rev. 
Alexander Keith, compofed in 1732; and the im- 
perfe<5t " Defcription" by the Laird of Foveran, 
written not before the clofe of 1715 ; at the end of 
which we have a picture of the ladies of the place 
and period, fuch as we may imagine the fubject of 
our Memoir to have been : — 

" Having fpoken of the men, it would be a crime 
not to mention the gentler fex. The women of this 
town are virtuous, fober, frugale, and induftrious ; 
never going abroad but to perform the offices of 
benignity and friendfhip ; never feen at the windows ; 
ftill employing themfelves diligently about the needs 
of the family. And it is but juft to fay of them that 
they deferve to be praifed for much more than the 
only virtue which Anacreon afcribes to the women 
of his time, to wit — beauty. They have alfo modefty, 
chaftity, purity, without which beauty becomes the 
object of contempt, and not a title of praife ; and thus, 
fmce all kind of virtue is a la mode here among the 
women, they who in this city are not virtuous, are 
really out of pofition." 

In eighty-three years what changes had taken 
place ! The reign of the Bourbons was approaching its 



8 Introduttion. 



bloody extinction, and the firft French Revolution in 
progrefs. Frederick the Great, after the feven years' 
war, had won an acceffion of power for his country. 
The two uprifings in favour of the Houfe of Stuart 
had been defeated, and the Jacobites crufhed for ever. 
Prince Charles Edward had died in the preceding 
year, and George III. was the popular Englifh-born 
monarch. America had freed itfelf, and elected 
George Wafhington prefident. The foundations of 
our empire in India had been laid. The Jefuits had 
been fuppreffed, and the Emperor Jofeph II. was in 
full career of his ecclefiaftical reforms. Poland had 
been divided. The liability of the Britifh Empire, 
depending more and more on public credit, was now 
linked to induftrial and commercial fuperiority. 
In Scotland the alterations were ftill more marked. 
The country had changed its face. It had paffed 
from mediaeval to modern times. The feudal jurif- 
dictions had been abolifhed. The Highlanders had 
been difarmed. General Wade had civilifed the 
north by his roads. The intellect of the lower claffes 
had been developed by the Seceffion movement and 
other controverfies in the Kirk. Trade had besfun to 
develope itfelf. Steam and the fpinning-jenny were 
nafcent powers, not yet recognifed in all their future 
influence, but already operative. In the " Memoirs of 



Introdufiion. 



a Banking- Houfe," by Sir W. Forbes, we get an 
indication of the commerce of Scotland of the period, 
how fmall the ventures, how primitive the arrange- 
ments ; and at the end of " Arnot's Hiftory of Edin- 
burgh," there is an interefting paper, figned " Theo- 
phraftus" (but really written by Creech the book- 
feller), in which the focial advance between 1763 
and 1783 — not always a moral one — is fharply and 
graphically delineated. Edinburgh, then confined 
to the old town, was without trade or manufac- 
tures, inhabited by the members of the learned pro- 
feffions, and the fcions of an impoverifhed arifto- 
cracy. Mainly confined to the ridge of the High 
Street and Canongate, with a range of filthy clofes 
on either fide, the capital of Scotland, without drain- 
age, without police, can hardly have been a pleafant 
refidence fo far as the phyfical conditions of life are 
concerned ; but comfort is a relative term ; and at 
lead there was refinement, intellect, and high fpirit. 
Leyden fent home accomplished lawyers, and Douai 
well-mannered gentlemen ; while ftrangers from the 
fouth bore conftant witnefs to the charm and beauty 
of the women. 

But the fupreme intereft in this little work is 
not that which is hiftorical. It exhibits a picture 

both of natural and of fupernatural virtue which is 

c 



io Introduction. 



an example to all. Frugality, courage, felf-refpect, 
decifion, are noted features in the character of the 
fubject of this Memoir ; while the life of old-world 
piety and devotion, which lived on from her early 
nonjuring days to the end of her protracted exiftence 
on earth, deferves not to be forgotten. It is a ftriking 
illuftration of the crufhing feverity and focial oftracifm 
of the penal laws againft " the ancient Church of Scot- 
land, fuffering and epifcopal," that one trained fo 
ftrictly according to its traditions, and fo politically 
bound up in its fortunes, mould have been forced to 
join what were termed " the qualified congregations." 
We know that at this time the Englifh Bifhops, with 
a view to prevent the Jacobites from lapfing into 
Prefbyterianifm, did all they could to fofher thefe 
chapels ; and it (hows how much the Church accepted 
the plea of neceffity, that one fo fternly rigid in the 
maintenance of the privileges of his order as Bifhop 
Abernethy Drummond, of whom the late Mr. Cufhnie 
of Montrofe, who had been ordained by him, teftified 
that he was the moft auftere of men, and never 
known to fmile, mould have miniftered at the dying- 
bed of one who, whatever her real fympathies may 
have been, was attached, and devotedly attached, to 
the miniftrations of one who difclaimed his jurifdic- 
tion. It is clear, however, that thefe feparated 



Introduflion. 1 1 



chapels fymbolifed no diverfe fchools of doctrine. 
The level at that time was univerfally low both in 
England and Scotland. What was genuine and 
devout had lived on from a previous epoch. In this 
Lady Forbes was not difturbed. The books which 
formed her devotional life (curioufly apologifed for by 
her fon), are the books which have gone to help 
on the Sfreat revival in the Anglican Church in 
the prefent century. Catholics of the communion 
of the Church of England defire no better food 
for their fouls than the " Imitation of Chrift," 
attributed to Thomas a-Kempis; the fo-called 
" Meditations of S. Auguftine," probably by S. 
Anfelm ; and that excellent " adapted " Book, fo 
well known among the Non-jurors, as " Hickes' 
Devotions." 

No portrait of Lady Forbes is known to exift, 
but one of her children, who long furvived her, ufed 
to defcribe her as fmall and aciive ; and to a very 
advanced age affiduous in her attendance at chapel, 
not only on Sundays but on feftivals. 

In iffuing this narrative it has been deemed right 
to give the defcent of the fubjecl: of the Memoir, and 
alfo the names of all thofe who are defcended from 
her. The fainted Bifhop of Moray ufed to affimi- 
late Sir William Forbes to one of thofe favoured 



1 2 Introduction. 



ones mentioned in the Bible, to whom the Almighty 
granted a plenteous feed. 

The Editor be^s to thank thofe of his relations 

o 

to whom he has applied for information, as well as 
thofe other friends who have helped to illuftrate the 
Work. 

A. P. F. 

Dundee, February 1875. 



NARRATIVE 

OF THE 

Lajl Sicknefs & Death of Dame Chri/iian Forbes. 

The folemn fcene I have fo . recently witneffed, of 
my mother's laft moments, has left an impreffion fo 
deep on my mind as will not be erafed. And will, I 
truft, produce to me the moft beneficial effects. 

Being anxious, at the fame time, that my children 
mould derive fome advantage from the remarkable 
degree of piety and refignation exhibited during the 
whole of her laft ficknefs, as well as at the awful hour 
of death, I have refolved, while they are frefli in my 
remembrance, to fet down the particulars of the 
three laft weeks of a life, the whole of which had 
been fpent in an earneft defire and uniform endea- 
vour to difcharge properly the various duties of her 
ftation. 

Befides the hope that my children may be the 
better for the recital, I confider it in fome degree as 
a debt of gratitude, on my own part, to the memory 
of one of the beft of Parents, to whom I owe not 
only my being in this world but my hopes of happi- 
nefs in the next, from the pious education which it 
was the chief obje6l of her care to beftow on me. 



14 Narrative of the lafi Sicknefs and 

If I neglecl: to profit by her inftruclions as well 
as example, great indeed will be the meafure of my 
condemnation. 

It was my original defign to have confined my 
narrative ftriclly to my mother's laft ficknefs and 
death ; but, on further confideration, I have thought 
it right to preface it with a flight fketch of the former 
part of her life, from what I have often heard her 
mention, as well as what came within my own know- 
ledge. 

I had the misfortune to be deprived of my father 
when a child of four years old. Of him, therefore, 
I can fpeak only from what I have heard from my 
mother, and fome very few of his intimate friends 
who were ftill alive when I grew up. 

My mother was born on the 14th of April 1705. 1 

1 Memorandum in a family Bible which had belonged to her 
father, now in the poffeffion of her nephew, Mr. Forbes of Upper 
Boyndly. [The Bible referred to is a beautiful i2mo volume, full 
of fine engravings, of date 1669. It had belonged to James 
Vifcount Frendraught, the fecond hufband of Chriftine Urquhart 
(of Cromarty. She had firft been married to Lord Rutherford). 
The following is a copy of the first page of John Forbes's family 
record, which is very beautifully written : — 

" This Book belongs to me 

"JOHN FORBES 

" Non eft f nor tale quod op to. 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes 15 

Her father was John Forbes, a younger fon, by a 
second marriage, of my great-great-grandfather, Sir 

" I was born at Monymufk on Saturday the 7 th day of Feb- 
ruary 1680, betwixt 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning. 

" My wife, Sufanna Morrifon (lawfull daughter to George 
Morrifon of Bogny and Dame Chriftine Urquhart, Vifcounteff- 
dowagerof Frendraught), was born at Frendraught on Wednefday 
the 22nd of December 1680. We were married (by Dr. William 
Blair, minifter in Aberdeen) at Frendraught, the 27th day of 
Aprile 1704. 

" My daughter, Chriftine, was born at Frendraught on Satur- 
day the 14th of Aprile 1705, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 
and was baptized the following day be Mr. Hugh Chambers, 
minifter at Marnoch Kirk. 

" My fon, John, was born at Pitfichie ] on Munday the 20th 
day of May 1706, about fix o'clock in the morning, and was 
baptized the fame day be Mr. John Burnet, minifter at Mony- 
mufk. He died on Munday >J« the ift day of July thereafter, 
about 3 o'clock in the morning. 

" My fecond daughter, Barbara, was born at Pitfichie on 
Tuefday the 24th day of June a.d. 1707, about half ane hour 
pafl 3 o'clock in the morning, and was baptized in the afternoon 
of the fame day be the faid Mr. John Burnet. 

" My third daughter, Mary, was born at Pitfichie on Thurfday 
the 24th day of June 1708 years, about eight o'clock in the 
morning, and was baptized in the afternoon of the fame day be 
Mr. John Burnet, minifter at Monymufk." 

He goes on to enumerate, in the fame manner, the births 
of other four fons and two daughters. In a different hand ap- 
pears the birth of a fixth daughter, who was born after her father's 

1 Pitfichie is an old tower near Monymufk. 



1 6 Narrative of the last Sicknefs and 



John Forbes of Monymufk, in Aberdeenfhire. Her 
mother was Sufan Morifon, daughter of George 

death. He had the appointment (afterwards held by his fon-in- 
law, Sir William), of colleaor of the land tax for the county of 
Aberdeen; and, during the rebellion of 17 15, exercifed his office 
on behalf of King James. A book is preferved at Boyndlie in 
his beautiful handwriting, in which is ftated the amounts levied 
by him on every property in the county, in order to raife the fub- 
fidy required by the Earl of Mar. Here it appears diftindtly that 
certain lairds were required to pay a double, others only a fingle 
tax ; and this correfponds to what we know of the political prin- 
ciples of the lairds. Was it ever true that the Earl of Mar had 
power to force a double tax from thofe hoftile to his caufe 1 Of 
courfe John Forbes had to flee on the failure of the enterprife. 
He made his efcape in a fmall veffel which failed from Banff, and 
was never more heard of. Foul play towards him was more than 
fufpedled, as he had fome money in his poffefiion, and fome of 
the failors of the fhip were afterwards feen wearing his clothes ; 
but his family did not dare to feek redrefs. He was an accom- 
plifhed man, and drew and painted well. Several pictures done by 
him are ftill at Boyndlie. He had purchafed that property in 1 7 1 1, 
but as there was no fuitable refidence on it, his widow retired to 
Mill of Forgue, a place on her father's property, where (lie and 
her unmarried daughters, Barbara and Mary, fpent the remainder 
of their long lives. Thefe two fifters very much refembled Lady 
Forbes. Though they lived in the mod frugal manner, they were 
dignified, and very hofpitable, and were highly and widely re- 
fpedted for their ftrong good fenfe, cultivated minds, and high 
principles. The account of Lady F. in this Memoir recalls all I 
have heard of their chaia&ers and way of life. I have often 
heard my aunt defcribe their tall, (lately figures, and quaint drefs ; 
their trains, fleeves reaching to the elbow, with ruffles, and long 



Death of Dame Chrijiian Forbes. 1 7 

Morifon of Bogny, alfo in Aberdeenfhire. My 
maternal grandfather died young, having been fhip- 
wrecked and drowned on the coaft of Holland, after 
the termination of the expedition into Scotland, in 
the year 171 5, of the ill-fated Son of King James II., 
to whofe fortunes my grandfather had attached him- 
felf. He left his widow with the burthen of a 
numerous young family, whom fhe educated with 
great care, and lived moft refpectably on a very 
flender income, to an advanced a^e. 1 

My father was fomewhat younger than my 
mother. When an infant he had alfo loft his father, 
John Forbes, younger, of Monymufk, who died at the 
early age of twenty-feven, of a confumption, chiefly 
occafioned, as was fuppofed, by feeing the ruinous 
fituation, after his marriage, of the affairs of his 
father, Sir William Forbes, who being overwhelmed 
with debts, was compelled, after his fon's death, to 
fell his paternal efhate of Monymufk. 2 

gloves or mittens. Mary was born exactly one year after Bar- 
bara. After nearly 96 years there was, within a few days, the 
fame interval between their deaths. A year or two before both 
fuffered from the fame accidents, fracture of the top of the thigh 
bone, and were confequently lame. — Note by Mifs R. Ogilvie.~\ 

1 My grandmother died in the year 1760. 

' [For a fad but graphic account of the poverty-ftricken 
condition of the Eftate of Monymufk, at the time of the fale, 

D 



1 8 Narrative of the lajl Sickncfs and 



My great-grandfather alfo dying foon after, 1 my 
father was left to the care of his mother, filler of 
the late Lord Pitfligo. Having married a fecond 
hufband, the Honourable James Forbes, afterwards 
Lord Forbes on the death of his elder brother, (he 
was affifted by him in conducting my father's educa- 
tion, a duty which he not only difcharged to him 
in the moft effectual manner, but lived long enough 
to perform the fame friendly office to me. 

My father was placed under the tuition of Mr. 
William Mefton, who had been profeffor of philofophy 
in the University of Marifchall College, Aberdeen. 
But having- attached himfelf to the fortunes of the 
houfe of Stuart in the year 1715, he loft his pro- 
fefforfhip. Being eminently fkilled in claffical learn- 
ing, he opened an academy after his expulfion from 
the univerfity, fucceffively at Elgin and at Turref, 
at Montrofe and at Perth, at which were placed the 
fons of many of the mofl refpectable families in the 
north of Scotland, efpecially of thofe whofe political 

fee Spalding Club " Mifcellany," ii. 97, fome particulars of which 
are cited in R. Chambers's " Domeftic Annals of Scotland," vol. 
iii. p. 418.] 

1 After the fale of his eRate, my great-grandfather retired to 
Old Aberdeen, where he died on the 13th day of January in the 
year 17 15, and lies buried in the churchyard of the cathedral 
there. 



Death of Davie Chriflian Forbes. 19 

principles were in unifon with the profeffor's. 1 His 
academy was at Montrofe when my father was his 
pupil. 

How lonof he continued there I know not. 
But having made choice of the law as a profeffion, 
he removed to the Univerfity of Edinburgh, and, 
after the ufual courfe of ftudy, was admitted an 
advocate on the 30th December 1727. 2 

In the year 1731 he married my mother. The 
marriage was celebrated privately, as it was difap- 
proved of by the parents of both. No poffible ob- 
jection, indeed, could be urged againft it, except 
want of fortune, as fhe was his very near relation, 
and had been moft carefully and difcreetly brought 
up. But the marriage, it muft be confeffed, was not 
a very prudent one in that refpect, as all that my 
father inherited from the wreck of the family eftate, 
after the fale, was £1000. 

But in thofe days luxury and expenfe were little 
known in Scotland, and frugality fupplied the defi- 
ciency of their fcanty income. My father trufted 
fomewhat, too, to the exertion of his profeffional 

1 Life of Meflon, prefixed to his poems, printed at Edinburgh 
by Ruddiman. [" The poetical works of the ingenious and 
learned William Meflon, A.M., fometime profeffor of philofophy 
in the Marifchal College, Aberdeen. 1767."] 

2 Records of the Faculty of Advocates. 



20 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

abilities, in which he was not difappointed ; for 
altho' no Alining orator, his reputation for know- 
ledge of law, and clofe application to bufinefs, fecured 
to him as large a fhare of practice at the Bar as he 
could reafonably look for. And had his life been 
fpared fome years longer, thofe qualifications, with 
his high character for honour and integrity, would 
in all probability have raifed him to a feat on the 
Bench. As it was, with the advantage of having 
obtained the office of collector of the land-tax of 
Aberdeenfliire, which he ferved by a deputy, and 
the profefforfhip of civil law in the Univerfity of 
King's College, Old Aberdeen, a finecure office, 1 
my mother and he were not only enabled, by a ftrict 

1 [I have been unable to trace out any record of the appoint- 
ment of Sir William Forbes to the office of " civilia." He ap- 
pears as profeffor in 1741. 

The foundation charter of King's College, Aberdeen, granted 
by Bifhop William Elphinfton, appoints that there (hall be a doc- 
tor of civil law. whofe ftipend fliall be therty merks, to be paid 
out of the revenues of the churches of Aberluthnot, Glenmyk, 
Abyrgernny, and Slanes. He is to be a perpetual prebendary, 
and in jirieft's orders. He is to be nominated by the Bifhop 
and his fucceffors, Chancellors of the Univerfity. He was to 
have his manfe outfide the college walls. He was, in his proper 
habit, to leclure on certain days to the ftudents, according to the 
laudable cuflom of the Univerfity of Orleans, upon the inftitutes of 
Juftinian. He was, with the other college officers, to take part 
in cleaing a procurator from their own body, who was to manage 



Death of Dame Chri/iian Forbes. 21 

adherence to ceconomy, to fupport the rank in fociety 
to which they were by birth entitled, and to bring 
up a young family, but my father was able to make 
fome addition to his flender fortune. In truth, he 

their temporal affairs. — (" Record of the Univerfity of King's 
College," Spald. Club, pp. 53-64.) 

By an inftrument of Bifhop Gavin Dunbar, he was to have 20 
pounds yearly, with his manfe and garden. 

So early as 1549, abufes had crept in; for, on the vifitation 
of the chancellor, the ftudents in law are warned that they neither 
make their refidence, nor celebrate religious offices in the places 
appointed by the foundation, nor apply themfelves to ftudy as 
they ought. — (lb. p. 264.) 

In 1680, the civilift is ordained to give his leffon once 
a week. If, from the meannefs of the falary he refufe, the place 
is to be declared vacant, and the falary be allowed to increafe 
till it be found fufficient for one difcharging the duty. — (lb. p. 
356.) 

As to the endowment of this office, we find the following notice 
in Oram's defcription of Old Aberdeen, p. 21, Ed. 1832: — 
" Item, the civilift's gleib and yeard is fet to a tenant, for which 
he pays yearly nine firlots of bear ; and the faid tenant hath built 
a little houfe to himfelf, and upon his own expenfes, upon the 
yard dike thereof to the ftreet ; and poffeffes the fame yard and 
gleib. Anno 1720." 

In 1723 the civilift is defired to give attendance on his 
office ("Records," p. 448), by the authorities "Confidering the 
great inconvenience to the univerfity by the neglec~l of the profef- 
fion and ftudy of civil law, did judge it their duty to reprefent 
the same to Mr. Alexander Garden (of Troup), civilift, and to 
defire his attendance, conform to the foundation."] 



22 A T arrative of the lad Sicknefs and 

was unfortunately cut off in the prime of life, juft at 
the period when his profpects were beginning to 
brighten by the increafe of his practice at the bar, 
and the reafonable hope he might entertain of being 
promoted to fome of thofe offices attached to his 
profeffion. 

He died on the 12th May 1743 O.S., at Putachy 1 
Houfe, in Aberdeenfhire, the feat of his ftepfather, 
Lord Forbes. His death was occafioned by cramps 
in the ftomach, an excruciating diftemper, the pangs 
of which he bore with the utmoft fortitude, and met 
death with the mo ft perfect refignation. 

As an inftance of his compofure in thofe awful 
moments that preceded his diffolution, I have often 
heard my mother mention that on Lord Forbes 
coming into his chamber a fliort time before his 
death, and afking him how he did, my father calmly 
replied — " I am very well, my lord, but dying faft." 
In a few hours he expired. His remains were in- 
terred near thofe of his mother, who had died fome 
years before him, in the church of Kearn, in Aber- 
deenfhire, the burial-place of Lord Forbes' family. 2 

1 [Putachy is the original name of the prefent Caflle Forbes. 
The ancient refidence of the head of the family was at Drum- 
innor.] 

2 Since I grew up I caufed a monument, with a fuitable in- 



Death of Dame Chriftian Dordcs. 23 

From all that I have been able to learn of my 
father's character from the few friends who had 
perfonally known him, and who were ftill alive when 
I grew up, he was eminently diftinguifhed as a man 
of the ftricleft honour and integrity, of the moft cor- 
rect and unblemifhed conduct, of a cheerful temper 
and focial difpohtion, yet ftridtly temperate. 1 Be- 
loved and refpecled by all who had the happinefs 
of his acquaintance, and fincerely lamented at his 
death. 

My mother fpent the firft year of her widowhood 
at her mother's houfe in Aberdeenfhire, at Miln of 
Forgue, a fmall farm on the eftate of Bogny, which 
flie rented from her brother, and on which he had 
built a fmall houfe for her and her family. 2 The 

fcription, to be erected, in order to mark the fpot where his re- 
mains were laid. [The infeription is printed in Sir William For- 
ties's "Life of Dr. Beattie," vol. i. p. 144 : Edin. 1806.] 

1 My worthy kinfman, the late Mr. Forbes of Pitfligo, told 
me when, among many other good advices, he was warning me 
to avoid bad company, that my father had affured him he had 
never, even when a bachelor, deviated from the ftricteft rules of 
continence. 

2 My mother generally fpent a few weeks at that houfe, with 
her mother and fillers, every fummer, during the vacation of the 
fchool which I attended. The houfe ftill exifts, though unin- 
habited and ruinous, and I never pafs that way without feeling 
the flrongeft emotion from a recollection of the fcenes where I 



24 Narrative of the lajl Sickncfs and 

year following, my mother fixed her refidence at 
Aberdeen with my younger brother and I, who were 
all of our family that remained, an elder fon and two 
daughters having died before my father. 1 At a pro- 
per age he and I were placed at the moft approved 
publick fchools in which the ufual branches of learning 
were taught that were fuitable for our years. But 
on a moft important part of our education fhe 
laboured herfelf with unceafing affiduity, by teach- 
ing us the principles of Chriftianity and its various 
practical duties. My mother was a ftrenuous be- 
liever in all the orthodox doctrines of the Church of 
England, according as they are taught in the creeds 
and catechifm of that Church. In thefe, therefore, 
flie inftructed us, without paying any attention to the 
various opinions on points of theology which have 

fpent fo many of my boyifh days, as well as from a remembrance 
how many of my relations and acquaintances there are already 
gone before me to their long home. 

1 [The limits of Aberdeen remained ftationary for nearly a 
hundred years (after the middle of the fixteenth century). A 
map conftrucled in 1746 exhibits the burgh as ftill hemmed in 
within the boundaries which we have defcribed in the plan of 
Gordon in 1661. The increafed population muft therefore have 
found accommodation in the enlarged fize of the dwelling-houfes, 
and it may not be unreafonably fuppofed that the ground on 
which the town was confined was more denfely covered with 
liuildings.— Robertfon's "Book of Bon-Accord," p. 144-] 



Death of Dame Chrijiian Forbes. 25 

given rife to fo much and fuch violent controverfy. 
With thofe queftions, therefore, I remained totally un- 
acquainted, till I became a man, and had begun to 
extend my reading to books on all forts of fubjects, 
and to controverfial divinity among the reft. I had 
never fo much as heard, for example, that any other 
opinion than the orthodox doctrine of the Church of 
England was entertained by any body refpecting 
the Trinity, or the duration of future punifhment, 
and I believe I could fpecify the very time when, 
and the company in which, to my infinite furprife I 
firft heard thofe doctrines called in queftion. To 
thofe early impreffions of piety and religion, received 
from my mother, owing (and I blefs God for it, 
beyond all His other mercies), that at no period of 
my life did I ever entertain the flighteft doubt in 
regard to the great and fundamental truths of our 
religion. 1 

1 During my father's lifetime, who was a regular attendant on 
public worfhip, my mother and he were members of a refpeclable 
congregation at Edinburgh, of the antient Epifcopal Church of 
Scotland, which, although the clergymen were nonjurors, was fre- 
quented without fcruple by perfons of all ranks, even by judges 
and men in public offices, who were attached to Epifcopal prin- 
ciples, until the year 1745. After that period the fevere penal 
ftatutes enacted not only againft the clergy of that communion 
who did not conform to Government, but againft their hearers, 

E 



26 Narrative of the laji Sickncfs and 

During this period of her refidence at Aberdeen 
flie lived in a private and frugal manner, beft fuited 

induced many to refort to qualified chapels in Scotland, in which 
clergymen who were of the Church of England officiated. My 
mother, when fhe went to refide in Aberdeen, was advifed to 
attend one of thofe qualified chapels, which had been eftablifhed 
there even before the year 1745. 

[In Captain Burt's " Letters" we find the following curious allu- 
fion to the qualified Epifcopal Chapel, now S. Paul's, in Aberdeen, 
alluded to in the above note : — " I faw a flagrant example of 
the people's difaffection to the prefent Government in the above- 
mentioned church in Aberdeen, where there is an organ, the only 
one I know of, and the fervice is chanted as in our cathedrals. 

" Being there one Sunday morning, with another Englifh 
gentleman, when the minifter came to that part of the Litany 
where the king is prayed for by name, the people all rofe up as 
one, in contempt of it, and men and women fet themfelves about 
fome trivial action, as taking fnuff, etc., to fhow their diflike, and 
faying to each other that they were all of one mind. And when 
the refponfal fhould have been pronounced, though , they had 
been loud in all that preceded, to our amazement there was not 
one fmgle voice to be heard but our own, fo fuddenly and entirely 
were we dropped. 

" At coming out of the church we complained to the minifter 
(who, as I faid before, was qualified) of this rude behaviour of 
his congregation, who told us he was greatly afhamed of it, and 
had often admonifhed them at leaft to behave with more decency." 
— " Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland." Dub- 
lin, 1758.] 

The mildnefs of his prefent Majefty's government has occa- 
fioned a repeal of thofe penal ftatutes which bore fo hard on the 



Death of Dame Ckri/Uan Forbes. 27 

to her widowed ftate and to her narrow income. 
Yet to our relations and a very fmall circle of friends 

Epifcopal Church of Scotland, by which means the reafon for 
the original eftablifhment of thofe chapels of the Church of 
England has ceafed. It is therefore much to be wifhed that their 
congregations may again unite with the Epifcopal Church of Scot- 
land, which mult ever be confidered as our mother church ; in 
which the doc~lrines of Chriftianity are taught with the utmoft 
purity, and between which and the Church of England there is 
no difference, except that the Epifcopal Church of Scotland, 
holding the opinion that the facrament of the Lord's Supper is an 
Euchariftical facrifice, make ufe of the communion office of the 
firft liturgy of King Edward the Sixth, inftead of that commonly 
ufed in England. And it is to be hoped that fuch an union may 
one day take place. In the meantime, it muft be allowed that 
the bifhops of the Epifcopal Church of Scotland have great merit 
in having been able to preferve even the veftige of a church under 
the fevere perfecution to which they have been expofed for more 
than a century, fmce the Revolution, in the year 1688. 

[Sir William feems to have revifed his Memoir, for on the 
margin, in another hand, ftated in a pencil note to be that of 
"James Calender, clerk in the Banking-Houfe," we find thefe 
words : — 

" Since this manufcript was firft written, the bifhops and clergy 
of the Epifcopal Church of Scotland held a convocation at Lau- 
rencekirk on the 21ft day of October 1804, when they fubferibed 
the thirty-nine articles of the Church of England, and adopted 
them as the confeffion of their church. In confequence of this 
meafure feveral of the mod refpedlable congregations in Edin- 
burgh and other parts of Scotland, whofe clergy had been ordained 
in England or Ireland, have united with, and put themfelves 



28 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

me exercifed fuch a meafure of iiofpitality as became 
her ftation, and accorded with the unexpenfive mode 
of living at that time at Aberdeen. 

While fhe refided there, on the 2d March 1749, 
flie met with the heavy affliction of lofing her youngeft 
fon, John, when only feven years old. A charm- 
ing boy, of the fweeteft temper and gentleft difpofi- 
tion, on whofe death, to this hour, I never can look 
back without feeling the bitterefl remorfe for the 
carelefs indifference with which I received the moft 
unbounded affection on his part, and the warmed 
attachment. The reflection often cuts me to the 
heart. 

My father, wifhing, like every prudent parent, 
to provide againft the contingency of his children's 
being early deprived of him by death, had left us 
to the guardianfhip of his flepfather, the late Lord 
Forbes, his uncle, the late Lord Pitfligo, my mo- 
ther's uncle, the late Theodore Morifon of Bogny, 1 

under, the fpiritual authority of the bifhops of the ancient Epifco- 
pal Church of Scotland, and I have no doubt but the meafure 
will become univerfal, fo as that unfortunate diftinction which 
has prevailed fo long among thofe of the Epifcopal perfuafion 
may be entirely done away."] 

1 [In Douglas's Peerage (vol. i., p. 612, ed. 18 13) we are told 
that James, fecond Vifcount of Frendraught, married Chriftian, 
daughter of Sir A. Urquhart of Cromarty, relict of Lord Ruther- 



Death of Dame Chriflian Forbes. 29 

and his aunt's hufband, the late William Urquhart 
of Meldrum — four perfons perhaps the moft diftin- 
g-uifhed at that time in Aberdeenfhire for honour 



and refpecliability of character, who paid the utmoft 
attention, each as far as his fituation permitted, to 
the difcharge of fo facred a truft. Being all country 
gentlemen, however, although they conftantly affifted 
my mother with their advice in the conduct of our 
education and the management of our flender pro- 
perty, it was to a gentleman in Edinburgh, an inti- 
mate friend of my father's, though he had not named 
him one of my guardians, to whom I owe my whole 

ford. After the Vifcount's death flie married George Morifon of 
Bognie, to whom flie conveyed, after the death of her fon William, 
the valuable eftate of Bognie and other lands, and by whom, after 
fhe was old, (he had a fon, and called his name Theodore (the 
gift of God), who was ferved heir to his father in 1699. 

The common tradition of the country, however, does not repre- 
sent the tranfadtion in this amiable light. According to it, as 
narrated in a graphic but probably incorrect verfion, the nrft 
Morifon's name was Alexander, and he was gardener at Fren- 
draught. The Vifcountefs announced a Scotch marriage to her 
maidens one afternoon in the words, " Mak doon the bed for 
Saunders and me." The faid Saunders having, either before or 
after this event, got poffeffion of wadfetts over the eftate, and 
being on his deathbed, the lady, addreffing him, faid, " Sign 
ower! Sign! Sign ower to the lad ! (her fon.) Ye ken it's a' 
his ain." Saunders — " Ay, ay, I'll fign when I wawken." 
Narrator — " But he waukent in hell."] 



30 Narrative of the laji Sicknefs and ■ 

succefs in the world. This was the late Francis 
Farquharfon of Haughton, 1 accomptant in Edin- 
burgh. Of the firft eminence and abilities in his 
profeffion, and of the high eft character as a man of 
worth and integrity, his memory is ftill held in great 
traditional efti.mation among men of bufinefs in Edin- 
burgh. This gentleman affifted my mother on all 
occafions with his advice, and in every refpe6l a6led 
to me the part of the raoft attentive parent. 

Seeing the necefhty of my being bred to fome 
bufinefs or profeffion for my fupport, as foon as my 
academical education had been carried as far as was 
judged neceffary for one who was not to be of any 
of the learned profeffions, Mr. Farquharfon prevailed 
on his friends, Meffieurs Coutts, eminent bankers 
in Edinburgh, to receive me as an apprentice ; in 
which houfe I have continued ever fince, until, gra- 
dually rifing to be its head, I have arrived, by the 

1 Granduncle to the prefent gentleman of that name and pro- 
feffion. [Among the letters preferved at Fettercairn is one ad- 
dreffed to Sir William Forbes, baronet, merchant in Edinburgh, on 
the occafion of his firft vifit to London, in which Mr. Farquharfon 
alludes to his pofition, thus : — " I depend on your exerting all your 
prudence in your interview with your partner, and his brothers and 
friends, as well as in all your conduct and company while there." 
The letter is dated Haughton, Oct. 28, 1762, and is the earlieft 
of any that has been preferved.] 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 



favour of Providence, at a degree of opulence and 
refpectability of fituation which I had very little 
title to expe6l or reafon to look for at that period. 

Of my connection with that houfe of bufinefs, 
I have given an ample account in another place. 1 
Suffice it to fay here, that in order to carry this plan 
of Mr. Farquharfon into effect, it became neceffary 
for my mother to leave Aberdeen, and fix her refi- 
dence in Edinburgh, to which fhe therefore returned 
for the firft time fince my father's death, after an 
abfence of ten years, in the end of October 1753, 
when I had entered my fifteenth year. 

During the courfe of that winter I continued to 
apply to fuch branches of ftudy as were neceffary 
for finifhing my education, and qualifying me for 
bufinefs. My mother did not at firft begin houfe- 
keeping by herfelf, but we lodged and boarded with 
a gentlewoman, the widow of Alexander Symmer, a 
refpectable bookfeller in the Parliament Clofe, with 
whofe family my father and mother had been well 
acquainted. And it is worth recording, as a proof 
of the difference of the expenfe of houfekeeping at 
that time in Edinburgh, that the fum we paid for 
board and lodging was no more than at the rate of 
^20 a year for each of us. We drank no wine, in- 
1 [In the " Memoirs of a Banking-House."] 



32 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

deed, but Mrs. Symmer's table, though plainly, was 
plentifully ("applied. 

At Whitfunday 1754 1 my apprenticefhip com- 
menced, when my mother took poffeffion of a fmall 
houfe which fhe had hired and furnifhed in Forrefter's 
Wynd, confiding of a couple of rooms, a bed-clofet, 
and kitchen, all on the fame floor, as was the man- 
ner in which houfes were occupied at that time in 
Edinburgh ; the rent was only £7 a year, and our 
whole houfe confifted of a fingle maid-fervant, who 
fufficiently anfwered every purpofe of our private 
mode of living. 

Yet in this humble manner fhe preferved a dig- 
nified and refpeclable independence, and properly 
fupported the character of my father's widow. Din- 
ners and fuppers of ceremony fhe gave none, except 
one fupper in the courfe of the year to the gentle- 
man to whom I was apprentice. But fhe was vifited 
by perfons of the firft diftinclion, whom fhe received 
at tea in the afternoon. This was a mode of enter- 
tainment much pra6lifed at that time at Edinburgh, 
though now totally difufed in the refinement and 
extravagance of modern luxury, and it was a cuftom 
productive of many advantages. Not only were 
perfons of the higheft birth, though of flender income, 
1 When I had entered my fifteenth year. 



Death of Dame Chriftian Forbes. 



jj 



enabled in this inexpenfive manner to entertain thofe 
friends whom they could not afford to receive in any- 
other manner, but the drawing-rooms of ladies of 
the moft opulent families, where dinners and fuppers 
were given, were generally frequented in the after- 
noon by the young and the old of both fexes, and 
thus became a fchool where elegance of manner and 
a tafte for polite and fenfible converfation were ac- 
quired, which we look for in vain in the prefent ftate 
of fociety, where in general there is more of form 
than of real kindnefs, more of vanity and expenfive 
mow than of genuine hofpitality. Thofe circles at 
that time in Edinburgh, the very remembrance of 
which is worn out, except among a few old people, 
were fele6l, though not numerous, and very unlike 
indeed to the crowded routs and affemblies of the 
prefent day. We afterwards occupied various houfes 
in other parts of the town, but always in the fame 
humble and low-rented ftyle, fuch as our flender 
income could afford, which at that time very little 
exceeded an hundred pounds a year. 

I look back with no common intereft on this 
early period of our domeftick hiftory, as it reflects 
the higheft credit on my mother's prudence and 
exemplary conduct, when thus left to herfelf, 
and deprived of my father's affiftance. When I 



34 Narrative of the laji Sicknefs and 

compare, too, the humble fyftem of houfekeeping 
which we practifed at that period with the enlarged 
fcale of my prefent houfehold eftablifhment, not 
unfuitable, I truft, however, to my increafed means 
of fupporting it, I hope the predominant fentiment 
of my heart is gratitude to that Almighty Being who 
has been gracioufly pleafed to blefs me with fuch a 
meafure of profperity. May it ever be my ftudy to 
enjoy His bounty with thankfulnefs, but with mo- 
deration, ftudioufly endeavouring to render it fub- 
fervient, as far as I am able, to the happinefs of 
others lefs favoured in that refpect than I have been, 
but never foro-ettins: that the fame hand that has 
given may alfo take away. Should fuch be the will 
of heaven, may I be enabled to fay with Job, " What? 
mail we receive good at the hand of God, and fhall 
we not receive evil ?"..." The Lord gave, and 
the Lord hath taken away ; bleffed be the name of 
the Lord." Or with Eli, " It is the Lord, let Him 
do what feemeth Him good." 

We continued to live in this frugal and very 
private manner during a period of feven years (while 
my apprenticefhip lafted, and two years after it was 
finifhed, during which I continued to act as a clerk in 
the counting-houfe), until, by the intereft of the fame 
valuable friend, Mr. Farquharfon, Meffrs. Coutts 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 



were prevailed on to affign to me a very fmall fhare 
in the bufinefs of the houfe, as a partner. Not long 
after, on the death of the principal partner, Mr. 
John Coutts, his brothers, who were fettled in Lon- 
don, refigned their intereft in the houfe entirely, and 
a new copartnery was formed, in which I had a 
fhare. By the event of my thus being engaged in 
bufinefs, my mother's income and mine was con- 
fiderably increafed. We therefore removed to a 
fomewhat better houfe, and a little enlarged our 
houfehold, by firft keeping a foot-boy, and afterwards 
a man-fervant. But we ftill continued to live in a 
very retired manner ; for although we began occa- 
fionally to have a few friends with us at dinner or 
fupper, I was careful not to opprefs her with too 
much company, to which, for fo many years fmce 
the death of my father, fhe had not been accuftomed, 
and the entertaining of whom was, by confequence, a 
greater fatigue than I was willing fhe mould undergo. 

In this manner we lived during other feven years, 
until the period of my marriage. 

That event, of courfe, occafioned a confiderable 
change on our fyftem of domeftick economy, as I 
removed with my family to a houfe of my own. 
Although my mother was thus to live alone, it was 
my earneft wifh that fhe mould have made no 



36 Narrative of the laji Sicknefs and 

change on her houfehold eftablifhment, which I had 
enabled her fufficiently to fupport, by having made 
an addition, as foon as it was in my power, to the 
fmall annuity which my father had left her, and 
which, although it was as much as his flender 
fortune could afford, was now become inadequate to 
her decent fupport ; but all my entreaties to that 
purpofe were in vain. She meant, fhe faid, to fee 
but very little company, and fuch only as were old- 
fafhioned like herfelf. A man-fervant, therefore, 
fhe infifted, would be idle in her houfe from having 
nothing to do, and would be a conftant plague to 
her, fo that fhe was refolved, fhe faid, to hire a 
fmaller houfe and return to her former ftyle of having 
a maid-fervant merely, who would fufficiently anfwer 
every purpofe fhe could require ; and indeed from 
that period fhe very feldom had anybody to dine 
with her except her moft intimate friends. Or, if 
at any time fhe gave a dinner of more than ordinary 
ceremony, one of our fervants was always at her 
command. But, in general, her guefts were fome 
of her old friends, who partook of her family dinner. 
Vifitors of more form fhe received only at tea in the 
afternoon, till at laft fhe found it neceffary to give up 
even tea-vifits. As the exertion of fpeaking to, and 
entertaining for an hour or two, people with whom fhe 



Death of Dame CJwiftian Forbes. 37 

did not find herfelf perfectly at freedom, became too 
much for her ; fhe was always glad, however, to fee 
any friend who did her the favour to call and fee her 
in the forenoon. 

All this while her fpirits never flagged notwith- 
ftandinof that fhe lived fo much alone. She molt 
regularly attended divine fervice, not only twice a- 
day on Sundays, but at week-day prayers. 1 She read 
a good deal, chiefly the Bible and Book of Common 
Prayer, and a few books of piety of the laft age, 
fuch as Thomas-a-Kempis, St. Auguftine's " Medita- 
tions," Hickes' " Devotions," which, with fome others, 
had been in fafhion in her early days, but which, 
though excellent in their way, are now but little 
noticed. She amufed herfelf likewife with the newf- 

1 [Captain Burt flippantly but graphically defcribes the church- 
going of the period : — " I have often admired at the zeal of a 
pretty, well dreffed Jacobite, when I have feen her go down one 
of the narrow fteep wyndes in Edinburgh, through an accumula- 
tion of the worft kind of filth, and whip up a blind flaircafe almofl 
as foul, yet with an air as degage, as if fhe were going to meet a 
favourite lover in fome poetafter's bower. And, indeed, the dif- 
ference between the generality of thofe people and the Prefby- 
terians (particularly the women) is vifible when they come from 
their refpective inftructors ; for the former appear with cheerful 
countenances, and the others look as if they had been juft before 
convicted and fentenced by their gloomy teachers." — " Letters," 
etc. p. 131.]— 



38 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

papers, and any new publication that came in her 
way ; fuch eafy work as knotting fringes and the like 
ferved to fill up the intervals of her time. On this 
fubjec~t I cannot omit to mention an anecdote, be- 
caufe it ftrongly mowed her earneft wifh to render 
every hour of her life ufeful to thofe around her. 
Her maid-fervant, though fomewhat advanced in 
years, it feems had never been taught to read. My 
mother undertook that tafk herfelf, and during feve- 
ral years employed an hour every evening in en- 
abling the maid to read the Bible, in which fhe made 
a very confiderable proficiency. 

In this uniform manner and bleffed frame of mind, 
flie paffed the laft nineteen years of her life, expreffing 
herfelf with the utmoft compofure and tranquillity as to 
the time of her diffolution, which fhe awaited without 
either dread or impatience, conftantly referring it to 
the pleafure of the Almighty, but earneflly imploring, 
if it mould be His holy will, that He would grant 
her an eafy paffage to another world without her 
being long confined to a bed of ficknefs, or becoming 
a burthen to thofe around her. 

I am now come to the concluding fcene of a lonor 
life thus uniformly and ufefully employed in the prac- 
tice of all the moft effential duties of a Chriftian — 
a fcene of which what follows is a faithful narrative. 



Death of Dame Chriftian Forbes. 39 

My mother had completed her eighty-fourth year, 
forty-fix of which fhe had furvived my father ; and 
flie had enjoyed to that advanced period of life a 
wonderful fhare of good health and good fpirits. 
Although feeble, and liable to catch cold, fhe retained 
her appetite, fight, and hearing, with the full poffef- 
fion of her intellectual faculties, and was able to 
walk to chapel, which was, indeed, at a very fhort 
diftance from her houfe, which fhe had chiefly made 
choice of from that confideration. 

As our houfe was in a remote part of the town, 
fhe had infifted that Lady F. and fuch of our chil- 
dren as were old enough to be at church, inftead of 
going home on Sunday during the fhort interval 
between morning and evening fervice, fhould come 
to her houfe, where fhe had always a difh of barley 
broth prepared for them. Mr. Fitzfimmons, 1 one of 

1 [In the Scots Magazine for 1799, we find that on the 12th 
July, the Rev. W. Fitzfimmons, one of the minifters of the Epif- 
copal chapel in Edinburgh, was indicted at the inftance of His 
Majefty's Advocate for unlawfully harbouring, maintaining, fecret- 
ing, and concealing prifoners of war, and of unlawfully aiding and 
affifting them to withdraw themfelves out of the kingdom. The 
libel ftates that fometime during the courfe of the war at prefent 
fubfifting between Great Britain and France, a number of perfons, 
among whom were the names of Jean Baptifte Vandevelde, Jean 
Jacques Jappie, Reine Griffon, and Hippolite Depondt, all natives 



40 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 



the clergymen of our chapel, for whom fhe enter- 
tained a ftrong friendfhip, generally paid her a vint 

and fubjects of France, having been taken prifoners, and having 
been thereafter brought into this realm, and lodged and confined 
in the caftle of Edinburgh as prifoners of war, three had efcaped 
by means of force and ftratagem, and by aid and connivance of 
certain perfons, the faid Jean Baptifte Vandevelde and Jean 
Jacques Jappie did, on the ioth of March 1799, repair to the 
dwelling-houfe of the faid William Fitzfimmons,fituated in Cheffels's 
Court, Canongate of Edinburgh, who then and there, contrary to his 
duty and allegiance, did conceal their perfons ; the other prifoners, 
Reine Griffon and Hippolite Depondt having broken their parole, 
alfo betook themfelves to Mr. Fitzfimmons's houfe, who, on the 
15th of March, conducted them to Newhaven for the purpofe of 
getting them on board a cartel veffel then lying in Leith Roads, 
and prevailed on fome fifhermen to take them on board, which 
was accordingly done. Mr. Fitzfimmons pled not guilty to this 
charge. Mr. John Forbes, the junior counfel (fecond fon of Sir Wil- 
liam Forbes), " in a fhort and elegant fpeech," opened the defence, 
pleading that Mr. Fitzfimmons's motive was commifferation for 
the fituation of the prifoners, and pure motives of humanity which 
led him to interpofe, but by no means the fmalleft hoftile inten- 
tion or defire to communicate any information to the enemy. 
Mr. Burnet followed on the part of the Crown. Mr. Fitzfimmons 
was not charged with a defire to favour the enemy, otherwife he 
would have been charged with high treafon, but with having 
acted from miftaken and mifguided humanity, which was a libel 
relevant to infer punifhment. The Court pronounced the ufual 
interlocutor, finding the libel relevant, and allowing the proof of 
all circumftances which might exculpate the panel or alleviate his 
guilt. Mr. Forbes led an exculpatory proof, pointing principally 



Death of Dame Chrijiian Forbes. 41 

at the fame hour, and fhe mowed a more than ordi- 
nary fatisfaction in thus feeing us all about her. 

On Sunday, the 6th December 1 789, fhe was at 
chapel. After morning fervice Lady F. and I, with 
our five eldeft children, paid her our ufual vifit, and 
left her in her ordinary ftate of health. 

It was my cuftom to pay her a vifit, if not every 
day, generally every fecond day ; but, by accident I 
had been prevented from feeing her again that week 
till Wednefday. She told me fhe had fomehow caught 
a cold which had brought on a cough, and it had been 
fo troublefome to her in the night time, that if fhe 
did not reft better the night following, fhe would have 
no objection to allow me to fend for Dr. Hamilton, 
a phyfician of her acquaintance. As fhe had at all 
times the greateft unwillingnefs to allow a phyfician 

to eftablifh his character to be that of a humane man, and from 
circumftances to (how that his intentions were not treafonable. 
The jury returned a verdict finding the libel, by a great plurality, 
proven ; but on account of his former good character and great 
humanity, recommending the Court to pronounce as lenient a 
fentence as poffible. It was that he was to be imprifoned in the 
Tolbooth of Edinburgh for the fpace of three months. 

After leaving Edinburgh, where at one time he had been tutor 
to the Right Hon. Thomas Bowes, Earl of Strathmore, Mr. Fitzfim- 
mons fettled in the Ifle of Man. His chapel in Edinburgh, which 
was called Baron Smith's Chapel, was in one of the clofes oppo- 
fite John Knox's Houfe.] 

G 



42 Narrative of the laji Sicknefs and 

to be called to her when fhe was any way indifpofed, 
I concluded fhe muft have been very uneafy before 
flie made this propofal herfelf. Next morning, when 
I called, flie told fhe had refted no better that night 
than the preceding. I therefore went and brought 
Dr. Hamilton to pay her a vifit ; the cough was fo 
fevere that when a fit of it feized her, fhe was in 
fome hazard of fuffocation. The doctor found like- 
wife a confiderable degree of fever in her pulfe, and 
flie had totally loft her appetite, which till then had 
been better than is ufual at her time of life. Thefe 
fymptoms were alarming, and the doctor told me 
privately, that at fo great an age there was no fay- 
ing what the confequence might be. She was per- 
fectly aware of this herfelf, and faid to me after the 
doctor was gone, that her complaints muft foon come 
to a conclufion in one fhape or other, for fhe felt, fhe 
faid, if they were to continue much longer, fhe could 
not hold out under them. This remark flie made, 
however, with the utmoft tranquillity ; but how much 
flie was convinced of its truth will appear from the 
following circumftance : — A few months before flie 
had expreffed a defire to make a prefent to Lady F. 
of a piece of plate, or anything elfe flie liked better, 
as a fmall mark of her gratitude (as flie was pleafed 
to exprefs it) to her daughter-in-law for her unre- 



Death of Dame Chrijiian Forbes. 43 

mitting attention to her. A harpfichord was fixed 
on, and it had been lately brought from London, but 
was not yet paid for. After making the above re- 
mark as to her ftate of health, fhe took from her 
pocket-book a promiffory-note of our houfe for fome 
money, which, in the long courfe of her fingular 
economy, fhe had faved, and placed in their hands, 
defiring that I would remit the price of the harpfi- 
chord to the maker in London, and bring her a new 
note for the balance, which I accordingly did. 

She continued much in the fame ftate for a day 
or two, ftill much diftreffed by the cough, but able to 
be out of bed, and to fit up a good part of the day, 
only lying down occafionally upon her bed to reft 
herfelf. Speaking of her fituation, fhe faid, fhe was 
perfectly refigned to God's will ; that fhe had not a 
wifh ungratified with regard to this world, and that 
with regard to the next, fhe trufted in the mercies of 
her God and the merits of her Saviour for pardon of 
whatever fhe had done amifs. At another time fhe 
faid — " I hope it is not finful, but I cannot help enter- 
taining a wifh, if it be God's will, that I may live till 
Chriftmas-Day," which was then at ten or twelve 
days' diftance. 

After a few days the medicines prefcribed for 
her had given her confiderable relief, although the 



44 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

cough was ftill very diftreffing in the night time ; but 
there was lefs of fever in her pulfe, and fhe recovered 
her appetite fo far as to be able to take fome food. 
Dr. Hamilton, therefore, told me, although there 
was no faying how fuddenly fymptoms might change 
in the cafe of a perfon fo weakened as me was, yet, 
from prefent appearances, he faw no reafon to appre- 
hend any immediate danger. She herfelf was fen- 
fible of the amendment, and faid fhe had probably 
gotten a reprieve at prefent, although it was quite 
uncertain how lono- it miq-ht laft. 

Returning to the fubje6t of Chriftmas-Day, fhe 
faid if fhe mould be fo well as to have on her clothes 
and be able to bear being carried down flairs, fhe 
would be at chapel that day, adding, at the fame time, 
and addreffmg herfelf to me — " And if once abroad, 
you know, it will make little difference whether I be 
brought fhraight home, or be carried to your houfe and 
dine with you and your family as ufual on Chriftmas- 
Day." To this I made no reply, for although I was 
perfectly convinced fhe had not ftrength to bear the 
fatigue of being carried even to chapel, far lefs to go 
home with us to dinner after the fervice, I forebore 
to fay fo, remembering that two years before that 
time, when fhe was really far from being well, I had 
prevailed on her to dine at home, which I faw at 



Death of Dame Chrijiian Forbes. 45 

that time had hurt her feelings, as fhe repeatedly 
took notice of the circumftance of fpeaking of it after- 
wards, faying it was the only Chriftmas-Day fince I 
had had a feparate houfe which fhe had not fpent 
with us. I refolved, however, when the day mould 
come, to afk the favour of our clergyman, Mr. Fitz- 
fimmons, to whofe advice I knew fhe would pay 
much regard, to join with me in trying to perfuade 
her to ftay at home, and allow him to adminifter 
the Communion to her at her own houfe. 

On Sunday evening, the 13th, when I called to 
fee how fhe did, I found Bifhop Abernethy Drum- 
mond praying by her bedfide. 

On Monday and Tuefday following, fhe con- 
tinued much in the fame ftate, but on Wednefday fhe 
expreffed a diflike to get out of bed. She found it 
impoffible, fhe faid, to put on or take off any part of 
her clothes without her maid's affiftance, and as fhe 
had all her life the greateft unwillingnefs to give 
trouble to thofe about her, fhe preferred the continuing 
in bed. I fufpect, too, fhe had felt a diminution of her 
ftrength, which made her lefs able to bear the fatigue 
of fitting up for any length of time. Dr. Hamilton 
ftrongly combated this idea of her not getting out of 
bed, as he faid it was a habit very apt to grow on old 
people ; it was apt to occafion a languor of fpirits, and 



4.6 Narrative of the la/l Sickncfs and 

fometimes was attended with very difagreeable confe- 
quences, if the fkin fhould become fretted. I was 
the more uneafy at it, becaufe, although it was vifible 
that her ftrength was gradually decaying, and that 
in all probability file could not furvive the winter 
and fpring, I thought it not unlikely fhe might linger 
durino- feveral months, and it was a moft uncomfort- 
able profpect that fhe fhould pafs the whole of that 
interval in bed ; for although Lady F. and I were 
much with her, fhe muft of neceffity be much alone, 
as there was no friend who could be properly afked 
to live in the houfe with her, even if fhe would have 
confented to it herfelf ; and indeed fhe even fhewed 
a diflike to be vifited by her acquaintance in general, 
o-ivino- directions to her fervant maids, of whom fhe 
had now been prevailed on to keep two, to admit 
none except her neareft relations and moft intimate 
friends, of whom, indeed, the number was very few, 
as fhe had outlived almoft them all. 

She rofe that day, however, at the doctor's re- 
queft, to dinner, but remained out of bed only a very 
fhort time. During this period fhe retained all her 
ufual good humour and complacency, expreffing much 
fatisfaclion in the tendernefs and attention fhewn by 
thofe around her, and repeatedly declaring that with 
regard to this world fhe had not a wifli ungratified. 



Death of Dame CJiriflian Forbes. 47 

She had at all times, even during her beft health, 
fpoken of Death with the utmoft eafe, nor did fhe 
now exprefs the flighteft reluctance at the thoughts 
of leaving the world. One day, indeed, about this 
time, fhe faid to me, while I was fitting alone by her, 
" Had my life been fpent to better purpofe, I fhould 
now be able to look forward with lefs apprehenfion 
to a Hereafter." God knows ! few can look back on 
life paft with lefs caufe of felf-reprehenfion than fhe 
could ! 

She had likewife been in the habit of giving 
many directions as to what fhe would have done 
when the laft event fhould happen. Thefe fhe now 
repeated very particularly to Lady F. and her maid, 
to both of whom fhe had more than once fhewn the 
linen fhe had laid afide to be ufed about her perfon 
after her death. She likewife alluded to a practice, 
which I had often heard her reprobate as extremely 
indecent, and of which fhe faid fhe had more than 
once known inftances, that when a perfon died with- 
out any friend or relation living in the houfe, the 
fervants were fometimes apt to admit their own 
acquaintance to view the body. She expreffed great 
diflike at the idea of being thus made, as it were, a 
fhow of, and requefted that, as foon as her body 
fhould be properly wrapped in linen, the door of the 



48 Narrative of the la/l Sicknefs and 

bedchamber fhould be kept locked. She had like- 
wife made a lift of a few friends to whom fhe wifhed 
notice to be fent of her death, left any of them fhould 
be neglected, as they were chiefly her own acquaint- 
ance, with whom Lady F. and I had little or no 
intercourfe, and might therefore not have thought of 
them at fuch a time. This lift fhe defired me to 
take out of her pocket-book and read. It had been 
written about three years and a half ago, and as 
feveral of them were old people, who had died in 
the interval, fhe had from time to time ftruck out 
their names, and had occafionally added others to 
the lift. 

One day about this time fhe defired Lady F., 
when they were alone together, to take out of her 
pocket-book a fmall flip of paper, on which fhe had 
written a memorandum, by way of a will or tefta- 
ment, which, for fimplicity and true piety, well merits 
prefervation : — 

" Memorandum to S. W. Forbes from his mother, to give his 
fon, William, ^"200 of the money fhe has in his counting-houfe, 
and j£*ioo to every one of the reft of the children, to be pd. only 
after the death of my Afters, Babie and Mary, and to give 20 [or 
30] pd. to Mr. Fitzfimmind, as he pleafes, for the great atention 
he has always fhown me. And may the bleffing of the Almighty 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft be with him and his always. July 
20, 1780." 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 49 

To this memorandum fhe had pinned our Houfe's 
promiffory-note for the money fhe depofited with 
them, and to which it related. After Lady F. had 
read it, my mother faid to her, fmiling, " Do not 
you find fomething improper in it now ? " On her 
replying that fhe faw nothing in it but the utmoft 
propriety, my mother faid, " Do you not obferve, 
as it has pleafed God to give you feveral children 
fince this was written, that the money cannot now 
be divided in the manner I had then intended. But 
I have not ftrength to write a new one. Tell my 
fon, therefore, to give two hundred pounds of money 
to my grandfon, William, 1 one hundred pounds to 
my granddaughter, Christian, 2 and to divide the 
remainder equally among the reft of your children." 
Nothing could more ftrongly mark the full poffeffion 
of her intellectual faculties than this, nor the warmth 
of her affeciion for us and our family. Her allufion 
to the death of her two fillers, who, though younger 
than her, were both old women, was by reafon of an 
annuity fhe had fettled on them, which I was to pay 
out of the intereft of the money, fo that it could not 

1 Our eldeft child, and my father's namefon, on which account 
my mother always entertained for him a more than ordinary 
affedlion. 

2 Her own name-daughter. 

H 



50 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs. 

be divided till their death, which happened not long 
after. 

On Sunday, the 20th December, when I called 
in the morning at her houfe, fhe faid, ' I have now 
taken a final refolution with regard to Chriftmas-Day. 
I fear I have too often prefumed to approach the 
Lord's table without due preparation ; but at this 
time I feel my head fo confufed that I cannot pof- 
fibly think myfelf in a proper ftate of mind to receive 
the Communion. I have therefore laid afide all 
thought of going to chapel, or even of troubling Mr. 
Fitzfimmons to adminifter it to me at home ; and I 
truft, in this inftance, God will accept of the will for 
the deed.' That day, when I called again after 
morning fervice, fhe afked me if I thought it would 
be right to have the prayers for the fick faid for her 
in the Chapel. I replied that there could be nothing 
more proper, if fhe wifhed it; and they were faid 
accordingly at evening fervice. During Monday, 
Tuefday, and Wednefday following, fhe continued 
with little alteration, but on Thurfday, when I faw 
her in the morning, I thought I could perceive her 
to be confiderably weaker. On Friday, which was 
Chriftmas-Day, fhe was evidently lofing ground. 
After morning fervice, her niece, Lady Macleod, 1 

1 Now Duchefs of Atholl. 



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Narrative of the laft Sicknefs and 



Lady F. and I, went to fee her. She was in bed, 
and expreffed great fatisfaction at our coming. But 
we remained but a fhort time, for fear of fatiguing 
her too much. Dr. Hamilton, at the fame time faid, 
however, that he did not apprehend any fudden 
change. 

The next morning, Saturday, the 26th Decem- 
ber, when I called I found fhe had refted very ill, 
and had paffed a very bad night ; fhe was vifibly 
worfe. She had faid to her maid, it feems, that 
morning, about fix o'clock, that fhe fcarcely thought 
flie could furvive that day ; but of this the maid did 
not inform me, and Dr. Hamilton, whom I met 
there, though he told me he thought her confider- 
ably worfe, ftill faid he did not apprehend the laft to 
be very near. It was with reluctance, however, that 
I went to the counting-houfe as ufual, as I faw her 
fo much weaker that I would not have left her houfe 
even for an hour or two, had it not happened un- 
luckily that one of my partners was confined at 
home by indifpofition, and Saturday being always a 
bufy forenoon in the counting-houfe, I thought I 
might venture to go there for a couple of hours, as 
Dr. Hamilton continued to affure me he did not 
apprehend any fudden change. On going to the 
counting-houfe, which was at no great diflance, I 



Death of Dame Chriflian Forbes. 53 

left ftridt chanre that one of the maids fhould come 
to give me notice the moment they faw any change 
in her appearance. 

About 12 o'clock noon, Lady F. and Mrs. Far- 
quharfon, her oldeft friend, accidentally met at her 
houfe. While they were fitting by her bedfide, her 
maid reminded her that it was her ufual hour of 
taking- a glafs of wine. She defired the maid to fill 
it out, then addreffing herfelf to Lady F. and Mrs. 
Farquharfon, with infinite compofure fhe drank " to 
their happy meeting in another world." Soon after, 
fhe requefted them to leave her, which they accord- 
ingly did. 

About half-an-hour after they were gone, I 
returned to her houfe. Her maid was in the 
room, fitting by her, but withdrew on my coming in. 
I fat down by her bedfide, and afking her how fhe 
did, fhe held out her hand to me, and faid fhe had 
juft wifhed for that opportunity of requefting my 
forgivenefs, if ever fhe had done anything in the 
courfe of her life to give me uneafinefs. I was very 
much affedted, and grafping her hand requefted fhe 
would not talk to me in that ftrain. She faid fhe 
would not, fince I defired it. A little while after, 
fhe afked me if I heard what is called the rattle in 
her throat ? I faid I did. She faid me hoped God 



54 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

would give her patience to bear properly whatever 
He fhould appoint for her. She held afalt-bottle in 
her hand, which fhe frequently held to her nofe, and 
feemed to be much oppreffed with ficknefs. As I 
perceived fhe fpoke with difficulty, I begged fhe 
might not diftrefs herfelf by the exertion, except 
there was anything which fhe particularly wifhed to 
fay to me. She replied fhe ought to fay much, but 
had not ftrength for it. She then requefted I would 
leave her, as fhe was fure, fhe faid, it muft be dif- 
agreeable to me to be with her. I ftill continued, 
however, to fit by her, without fpeaking, about a 
quarter of an hour longer, when fhe again requefted 
that I would leave her, which I then did, thinking 
perhaps fhe had fome occafion for her maid's affift- 
ance ; and as I heard from the maid that Mrs. Far- 
quharfon had been there fo lately, I ran to her houfe, 
which was only a very little way off, to know what 
fhe thought of my mother's fituation. Mrs. Far- 
quharfon faid fhe faw evidently that fhe was dying, 
but did not imagine her death would happen per- 
haps for a day or two. I was of a different opinion, 
and therefore went acrofs the flreet to the counting- 
houfe, in order to lock up fome papers which in my 
hurry, when I had left it to go to my mother's, I had 
left on my defk, refolving now to return to her houfe 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 5 5 

and flay there during the reft of the day. I had 
not been abfent from her above half-an-hour, but on 
entering the houfe I met one of the maid-fervants, 
who faid me was juft fetting out to look for me, as a 
material change had taken place during my abfence. 
I immediately went into the bedchamber, when, to 
my furprife, I found her fpeechlefs, and apparently 
in the agonies of death. Her head had flipped 
from off the pillow, as if in a fit. She was ftill 
breathing, with now and then fome flight convulfive 
motion, but her eyes were fhut, and in lefs than ten 
minutes after I entered the room fhe expired without 
a groan or ftruo-grle. 

It is impoffible, I think, to imagine a long life 
brought to a happier or more enviable conclufion. 
She had fuffered but little pain — fhe efcaped what 
fhe had always deprecated, a long confinement to a 
fick bed — fhe retained to the very laft the full pof- 
feffion of her mental faculties — fhe was attended by 
thofe whom fhe moft highly valued — fhe had re- 
peatedly declared fhe had not a wifh ungratified as 
to this world, and fhe had long employed herfelf in 
continual preparation for the next. 

I have mentioned her regular attendance on the 
ordinances of religion. As another proof of her 
piety, I cannot omit relating that fhe had often ex- 



56 Narrative of the laji Sicknefs and 

preffed a wifh that at her funeral the burial fervice 
mould be read in the churchyard, as in England, 
rather than at her own houfe, as in Scotland. It 
was a very decent and folemn ceremony, me faid, 
and might have a more ftrikino- effect with regard 
to thofe prefent, when performed in that manner 
rather than the other. There was, indeed, a period 
when the populace in Scotland would not have per- 
mitted that ceremony to be publicly performed in 
Edinburgh, but the complexion of the times is now 
much changed for the better in that refpecl, and I 
have more than once been myfelf prefent when the 
burial fervice has been performed in the churchyard 
there. I had, therefore, very readily promifed that 
in that, as well as in every other particular, her will 
mould be carefully obeyed ; and fhe had requefted 
Mr. Fitzfimmons, if in Edinburgh at the time of her 
death, to read the burial-fervice at her grave. The 
fequel, however, ftrongly marks her good fenfe and 
found judgment. It happened in the month of De- 
cember 1 787, two years before her death, that the day 
proved exceedingly ftormy on which my fon, James, 
and her nephew, Mr. William Forbes, who had both 
died at the fame time, were interred within an hour 
of each other. On my going from the churchyard to 
her houfe, after the two funerals, during the violence 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 57 

of the ftorm, fhe faid the temped of that day had 
now fully convinced her that a compliance with her 
requeft refpecting the reading the fervice in the 
churchyard might be attended with effects prejudi- 
cial to the health of thofe who might happen to be 
prefent at her funeral. She therefore releafed Mr. 
Fitzfimmons and me, fhe faid, from the promife fhe 
had exacted from us, and left us to do in that re- 
fpect as circumftances might render proper. I do 
not recollect her ever mentioning the matter to me 
again. On my afking Mr. Fitzfimmons, after her 
death, if fhe had given him any further directions on 
the head, he faid fhe had frequently fpoke of it, but 
always defiring that he and I might exa&ly do what 
we fhould think beft. 

As her death happened in the winter feafon, and 
the weather exceffively cold, he was clearly of opi- 
nion that it was beft to have the fervice read at her 
own houfe. She had, in that cafe, told me the 
names of thofe very few whom fhe wifhed to be 
invited to be prefent. When the day arrived, it 
blew a hurricane in addition to the cold, and fully 
juftified the deviation from her original intention. 

Early inured to the practice of a rigid ceconomy 
in her houfehold and perfonal expenfes, at firft from 
prudence, fhe perfevered in it from habit long after 



58 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

my fituation in life, by the blefTing of Providence, had 
rendered it no longer neceffary, and fhe conftantly 
declared that to alter her mode of living- to one 
more expenfive would occafion her a degree of 
trouble which, at her time of life, fhe could not pof- 
fibly fubmit to. She was actuated, too, in that refpe6t 
by a higher principle, conceiving herfelf to be under 
an obligation to ufe the bounty of heaven with the 
utmoft moderation in regard to luxury and unneceffary 
expenfe, which me always carefully avoided, taking 
care, however, that everything refpedting her houfe- 
hold and perfonal appearance mould be fuited to her 
ftation, not fo much for her own fake, as fhe ufed 
often to fay, as that fhe might properly fuftain the 
character of my father's widow. In her charitable 
donations, however, fhe was liberal and judicious, 
and when it appeared neceffary that more mould be 
given on any occafion than fuited her income, fhe 
always informed me, adding that fhe looked on me 
as her almoner, not wifhing to confider her purfe 
and mine as in any degree feparate, which in truth 
they had never been. 

This great attention to ceconomy had likewife 
given her a moft extraordinary degree of exaclnefs in 
regard to her family expenditure, conftantly paying 
for everything with ready money ; and it was an in- 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 59 

fiance of regularity in that refpect, very lingular, that 
when fhe died, except her houfe-rent and fervants' 
wages, the term of payment of which was not yet 
come, and the account of bread and beer for her 
family, which fhe was in the ufe of paying regularly 
at the end of every month, not a fingle farthing was 
due to any tradefman whom fhe employed. 

She carried this degree of regularity fo far that 
wifhing to give half-a-guinea to a poor woman to 
whom fhe occasionally gave alms, as the laft bounty 
fhe might have it in her power to beftow on her, fhe 
had wrapped it in a bit of paper, and pinned it to 
her bed curtains, in order that it might be in readi- 
nefs againft the firft time the poor woman might call, 
and where we found it after her death. It will 
fcarcely be doubted that I was at pains to difcover 
the woman, and gave her the money. We found, 
too, one of her fhifts wrapped up by itfelf, with a 
perfon's name pinned on it, of which we were at a 
lofs to difcover the meaning, until her maid-fervant 
informed us that a poor woman having requefted 
that my mother would furnifh a fhift to wrap her 
body in after fhe mould be dead, fhe had laid this one 
afide for that purpofe, probably thinking that it would 
not be fo fafe in the woman's cuflody as her own. 
She had been all her life accuflomod to keep a writ- 



60 Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 

ten and very minute account of her perfonal and 
family expenfes. But fpeaking fometimes, on occa- 
fion of the death of any of her acquaintance, of their 
repositories being ranfacked after they were gone, 
fhe had frequently expreffed a wifh that her books 
of accounts and fcraps of paper, with which fhe ufed 
to amufe herfelf, mould not be examined. In order 
to guard, however, againft the poffibility of this hap- 
pening, fhe had defhroyed everything of that fort 
herfelf, together with fome letters of my father's, 
written to her in cypher before their marriage, which 
till then fhe had carefully preferved. 1 But her books 
and everything elfe in her poffeffion were found in 
as exact order as if, previous to her lafl illnefs, and 
before her flrength failed, fhe had actually known 
that her life was fo near a clofe. A rare inftance of 
that watchfulnefs which is the duty of all, but unhap- 
pily practifed by fo few ! 

Uponthewhole, Ihaveknownmanywomenof much 
greater and more mining talents than my mother's, but 

1 Speaking one day of taking a review of paft life, fhe faid 
there was fcarcely an action which, on reflection, fhe did not 
think (he might, in fome way or other, have performed better, 
except her marriage. But that, in regard to that important ftep, 
flie had never at any time entertained two opinions. 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 61 

never any who made a more correct and proper ufe of 
thofe which God had been pleafed to beftow on her. 
Though not fhowy they were folid, and of the moft 
ufeful kind, perfectly well fuited to the limited fphere 
in which fhe had moved, and fhe had certainly em- 
ployed them to the very beft of purpofes, in a faith- 
ful difcharge of the duties of religion, in benevolence 
to her fellow-creatures, and in a conftant endeavour 
to correct; whatever fhe thought amifs in her own 
temper and difpofition. In this laft branch of her 
duty fhe had fucceeded to a furprifing degree ; for, 
contrary to the ufual fate of old people, whofe temper 
is fometimes apt to be foured by declining ftrength 
and a nearer view of their leaving the world, fome 
little peculiarities in hers, which, however, were by 
no means very troublefome to others, had totally left 
her, and as fhe grew older her difpofition grew 
milder and more gentle. A more uniformly upright, 
or a more fteady character and conduct, than hers I 
never knew. And I truft I may be permitted to 
apply to myfelf on this occafion, with a flight varia- 
tion, the wifh of the prophet — " Let me die the 
death of the righteous, and let my laft end be like 
hers." 

William Forbes. 



62 Narrative of the laji Sicknefs and 

After I had finifhed the rou^h draft of this nar- 
rative, I fent it to Mr. Fitzfimmons, who had been 
much with my mother during herlaft ficknefs, in cafe 
anything worth recording had come under his notice. 
When he returned the paper it was accompanied by 
the following letter, which I have thought it rio-ht to 
annex to thefe meets, as a fort of commentary, merely 
changing the pages of reference which were made 
by him to the draft, in order to make them accord 
with this copy. I mayjuft add that it was on the 
fuggeftion in the fecond paragraph of Mr. Fitzfim- 
mons's letter, that I have fince written the firfl part 
of the narrative prior to my mother's laft ficknefs. 

William Forbes. 

Dear Sir — I have frequently gone through the 
enclofed fheets, which you were fo good as to fubmit 
to my perufal, and have always read them with emo- 
tions which few other fubjects could excite, becaufe 
they lead me to recollections both pleafureable and 
painful — pleafureable, as the character they paint was 
extraordinary and uncommon — painful, becaufe Lady 
Forbes was the fteadieft and trueft friend I ever 
had. I cannot but regret that this memoir fhould 
be confined to the latter period of her life, which, 
though it muft be confeffed was particularly exem- 



Death of Dame Chrijliau Forbes. 63 

plary and interefting, yet as the fyflem by which fhe 
lived, muft have been the fyftem of principle and 
confirmed by time. If you had taken a wider field, 
I am perfuaded you might have found much matter 
worthy of being recorded. In addition to your nar- 
ration, I take the liberty to communicate fome parti- 
culars which have occurred to me. My acquaintance 
with her commenced in 1776, fhortly after my eftab- 
lifhment in this city. Her character naturally led 
me to refpecl: her, and the obfervations which I had 
opportunity of making on her conduct, in that early 
ftage of our acquaintance, prefented, in very many in- 
ftances, fo ftriking a refemblance of my own mother, 
that my refpecl rofe to partiality, and the acquaint- 
ance which commenced in civility grew into a fincere 
friendfhip, which I am fure never fuffered a moment's 
interruption during the remainder of her life. But 
though, as I faid, our friendfhip feemed to have a 
foundation in nature, it was reinforced by fentiment 
and reflection, for many features of her conduct made 
it almoft impoffible for a good mind to furvey her 
without regard and reverence. 

Her piety, the ruling principle and comfort of 
her life, was the genuine offspring of a good heart, 
mellowed by experience and reflection. It was pure, 
natural, unaffected. She had received, fhe ufed to 



64 Narrative of the lajl Sickncfs and 

fay, many favours from the hand of God, and in the 
courfe of a long life, had enjoyed much good. Her 
fenfe of them was deep and grateful, and fhe omitted 
no opportunity to exprefs it. She hoped, fhe faid it 
with peculiar emphafis, to receive more and greater, 
and it was her fervent, conftant prayer, to be found 
worthy of them. Hence her attention to the duties 
of religion became the chief care and chief pleafure 
of her life, " I had once," faid fhe (and fhe often 
faid it), "my part to perform in active life, and 
I endeavoured to perform it well ; now I have done 
with all temporal connexions and interefts. It is, 
therefore, proper to look forward and make provifion 
for the future." This was her firfb and laft fentiment 
in all things, and if it were poffible for the heart to 
hold fuch a conftant attention to its own emotions 
as to prefent an habitual confcioufnefs of its own emo- 
tions, I can believe that this was the fovereign prin- 
ciple of her thoughts and actions, and I am fatisfied 
that every thought and every deliberation of her 
heart, as far as was competent to the infirmity of 
human nature, was regulated by a fteady view to 
futurity. 

Such a habit, we conceive, muft have induced a 
gravity of temper. She was indeed grave, but her 
temper, though grave, was fedate, tranquil, calm. I 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 65 

have feen her fometimes difpleafed, but never angry. 
Attentive as fhe was to the meafures of her own 
conduct, fhe could overlook faults and fmile at other 
people's folly ; nay, I have feen her enjoy the recol- 
lection of what fhe ftyled her own miftakes, with a 
pleafantry that would have been amiable in youth. 
She liked fociety to a certain degree ; but what the 
world calls company, fhe did not affecl. As fhe did 
not go much abroad, the circle of her acquaintance 
was narrow, and confined (a few inftances excepted) 
principally to thofe with whom fhe held intercourfe 
in former days. But time had greatly abridged their 
number, and latterly her acquaintances were indeed 
few, yet no portion of her time hung heavy on her 
hands. She read much, and her readings were 
always adapted to her years. When reading became 
painful, fhe occafionally amufed herfelf at work ; but 
moft frequently in filent reflection. " I am furprifed," 
fhe would often fay, " how people ever tire of being 
at home or alone. I wonder at their eagernefs to 
be amufed abroad ; here am I, an old woman, but fo 
far from being a burden to myfelf, that I am never 
at a lofs for rational entertainment and employ- 
ment." 

Some of her intimate acquaintance ufed at times 
to rally her on her retired and domeftic turn of mind. 

K 



66 Narrative of the laft Sicknefs and 

Go abroad, they would fay, fee the world, vifit your 
old friends and make new ones. Her anfwer was, 
and flie s^ave it with all imaginable good humour — 
" I have done with the world, it does not want me. 
I have furvived almoft all my friends. I am, how- 
ever, going after them, and it is not worth my while 
making new friends, fince I am fo foon to drop them. 
Do not think, however, that my time hangs heavy ; 
far from it ; I pafs it comfortably and with pleafure." 
But the moft confpicuous and amiable feature of 
her character was the humanity and charitablenefs of 
her temper. Her hand was always open as far as pof- 
fible, always directed by judgment. She faid that fhe 
had been frequently impofed upon, but the intention 
of her charity was to relieve virtuous poverty ; there- 
fore, while fhe ftudioufly rejected the fuit of the pro- 
fligate and • worthlefs, fhe welcomed, nay, fhe very 
often fought, the worthy objects of charity. I have 
wondered at her exertions in that way, and how her 
circumftances could fupport them ; obfervation, how- 
ever, explained the difficulty, and I found it was 
owing to her frugality and economy ; fhe denyed 
herfelf everything ; fhe was jealous of every in- 
clination to (what fhe called) felf-indulgence. Her 
drefs was fimple, her board was fimple, and fhe ever 
faid — "She had more pleafure in giving away "than 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 67 

in enjoying it herfelf." In this refpe6l fhe was the 
moft perfectly independent perfon I ever knew — 
never fuffered a moment's anxiety about herfelf or 
about the world. I remember that, feveral years 
back, part of her property was at hazard, owing to 
its having been placed in a bad hand. " Well," faid 
fhe, " what do you think, Mr. F., fo-and-fo is the 
cafe, and I fhall lofe my money ; but," added fhe, 
" it gives me no trouble, the world will laft as long 
as I. Give me only peace ; I have ftill as much as 
will carry me through it. God preferve my fon, and 
I fhall never be uneafy." 

Some time after, however, by the exertions of her 
fon, her property was faved, and fhe related that cir- 
cumftance with abfolutely as much indifference as 
when fhe pronounced it loft. 

The following obfervations occurred to me in 
perufmg your manufcript : — 

P. 23.— Though not naturally robuft, yet her ac- 
tivity and temperance preferved to this advanced 
period a conftitution which in other hands would 
have given way much fooner. Cold was the com- 
plaint to which fhe was moft obnoxious. In her 
latter years fhe was frequently attacked in that 
way, and thefe attacks were generally accompanied 



68 Narrative of the laji Sicknefs and 

(as I thought) with afthmatic fymptoms. Averfe 
to drugs, her refource was warm clothing, which gra- 
dually removed them ; yet fhe ufed to remark that 
each of thefe attacks left her weaker than they found 
her, always adding — " I am going down the hill ; I 
am not diffatisfyed, but blefs God for permitting me 
to go down with eafe." 

Her condu6l in this refpect was the moft extra- 
ordinary, the moft furprifing of anything I ever met 
with. She talked of her decline as a matter of indif- 
ference ; flie fpoke of death not merely with equani- 
mity, but really with pleafure. Men that pique 
themfelves on their philofophy and deep reflection, 
fee death to be inevitable, and in contemplating the 
period of life, make a virtue of neceffity and endea- 
vour to reconcile themfelves to what they cannot 
avoid ; but fuch acquiefcence is often liable to fufpi- 
cion. In her the principle of fubmiffion was of another 
kind. It was her fatisfyed conviction and confidence 
in the great truths of the Chriftian revelation — 
" Thefe," faid fine, " were my fupport under the vari- 
ous trials of early active life, and now they prove 
the great comfort of my old age ; I am not indeed 
good enough, but I fhall fcarcely become better by 
living longer ; I truft, therefore, to the mercies of my 
Creator and the merits of my Saviour. When it is 



Death of Dame Chrijiian Forbes. 69 

God's pleafure to remove me, it will be mine to go. 
I only pray that while He continues my life He may 
continue to me the poffeffion of my faculties, that I 
may be faved from a lingering end, that I may not 
at the laft give great trouble to my friends." 

P. 23. — Thefe vifits, which brought her fon and 
her daughter, with their young family about her, 
were, I can venture to fay, the higheft gratifications 
of her life. Her fon and daughter's attentions to 
her were indeed unremitting and amiable ; and to 
their honour they had impreffed their children with 
thofe fentiments of refpect and duty to her which 
they fo properly exemplified in their own conduct, 
fhe felt lhe was fenfibly affected by thefe attentions, 
and they were, I do believe, the higheft gratifications 
of her life. 

P. 25. — Her affection of her daughter (as fhe 
called Lady Forbes) amounted to fomething on 
reverence. " Oh, Mr. F.," faid fhe, often, " what a 
woman my daughter-in-law is!" I replied, " My lady, 
I told you fo." " Well," anfwered fhe, " I lament 
I did not know her fooner ; but the harmony which 
fubfifts between us is pleafant, and I am really happy 
in her," and the prefent here mentioned was de- 



Narrative of the lajl Sicknefs and 



figned as much for an expreffion of gratitude as of 
affection. For a thoufand times (he renewed the 
fubject of her daughter's wonderfull attention to her. 

P. 35. — I remember fomething fimilar to this 
which happened fome years ago, when fhe lived at 
the head of Grey's Clofe, in a converfation which 
fhe had with her fon. I know not what the fubject 
was ; fhe had faid fomething which, on recollection, 
fhe thought improper. It gave her pain. She men- 
tioned to me her uneafinefs, and except that inflance 
I never faw her in diflrefs. " I muft have offended 
my fon," faid file, " and I do not think he ought to 
be offended by me. But I have, however, one re- 
fource, I will afk his pardon, and I hope he will for- 
give me, therefore, I wifh you to dictate the language 
of an apology." " My Lady," faid I, " think no more 
of it, I am fure your fon has forgotten it before now ; 
if the fubject gave him pain, your reviving it will 
renew that pain, and your apology will diflrefs him. 
Let him fee, at your next interview that it is off your 
mind; I am fure he has forgotten it." "Well," faid 
flie, " I will endeavour to forget it too ; but I will 
be more guarded for the future." 1 

1 I have not the mod diflant recollection what the above can 
allude to. W. F. 



Death of Dame Chrijlian Forbes. 71 

I hope you will excufe my troubling you with 
thefe few anecdotes. I am fatisfied they were not 
unknown to you, though they had efcaped your re- 
collection when you fat down to write, and of that 
wonderfull woman I think nothing mould be loft. 

That the evening of your life may be as comfort- 
able, and your end as happy as hers, is the fincere 
wifli of your much obliged and moft obt. humble 

fervant, 

William Fitzsimmons. 



TA 
SHOWING THE DESCENT AND ISSUE OF SIR WILLIAM 

SIR ALEXANDER DE FORBES (ift Baro: 



Circa 1460, James, 2d Baron Forbes = Lady Egidia Keith, daughter of William, I ft Earl Marifchal. 



1490, William, 3d Baron, called 
" Grey Willie," from whom the 
prefent Lord is lineally de- 
scended. 



Duncan, of Corfindae, from whom = Chriftian 



the Forbefes of Monymufk are de- 
fcended. 



voft ol 



1520, William of Corfindae, = Margaret Lumfden, daug 

William Johnfton of G 



1550, Duncan (who got a charter under the Great S 
"Duncano Forbes de Monymufk, terrarum de Cocla 
quhoy," etc., 1554. 



Sir Alex. Urquhart = a daughter of Alex 



of Cromarty and 
Dunlagan. 



ander, 4th Lord 
Elphinftone. 



George Morifon = Chriftian Vifcoun- 
tefs Frendiacht. 



1587, William = Lady Margaret Douglas, eldeft daughter 



1620, William, created a Baronet by= Elizabeth Wifhart. 
King Charles I., 1626. 



1665, Sir William, 2d Baronet = Jean, daughter of Sir 1 



(2d) Barbara, daughter of Sir John = 1670, Sir John, 3d Baronet =(ift), Margaret, daughter o 
Dalmahoy of that Ilk, by Barbara, 
daughter of Sir Bernard Lindfay, 
brother of the Earl of Crawfurcl. ' 



Sufanna Morifon, = John Forbes, ift of the Forbefes of Boyndlie. 



died 1 760, 



(He purchafed the lands of Upper Boyndlie 
from Lord Pitfligo in 1711.) Murdered at 
fea, 1 715. 



1710, Sir William, 4th Baronet, d 
(He fold Monymufk to Lord C 
ceftor of the prefent Sir James 
1713) 



Chriftian Forbes = 1730, Sir William, 5th Baronet, A 
in Edinburgh. 



An elder fon, and two daughters, 
died early. 



1743, Sir William, 6th Baronet, I (t 
Edinburgh. 



1806, Sir William For- = Wilhamina, daughter John Hay, James, died Adam, died Daniel, died Georg. 
bes 7th Baronet, and heirefs of Sir Lord Med- young. young. V oun<r 

Banker in Edin- John Belfhes Stuart, wyn. 6 " 

burgh, Baronet, of Fetter- 

cairn. 



,E I. 

RBES, SIXTH BARONET OF MONYMUSK AND PITSLIGO. 

40) = Lady Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of the Earl of Angus. 



ghter of Mercer of Balleg, Pro- 
:h. 



of the Laird of Conland, and relict of 
baine. 



Agnes Gray, daughter of William Gray, Bailie 
Burgess of Aberdeen. 



'illiam, 9th Earl of Angus, 
ghter of the Laird of Pitarrow. 

as Burnet, Bart., of Leys. 
3ert, Vifcount Arbuthnot. 



Alexander, ift Lord Pitfligo = Lady Jean Keith. 



Alexander, 2d Lord Pitfligo = Lady Mary Erfkine of Buchan. 



Alexander, 3d Lord Pitfligo = Lady Sophia Erfkine, daughter 

of John, Earl of Mar, by 



[715. =Lady Jane Keith, daughter of John, ift 



, an- 

it, in 



Earl of Kintore, by Lady Margaret, 
daughter of the Earl of Haddington. 



Lady Jane Mackenzie. 



,hn Forbes (who died before his father) set. 27. =Hon. Mary Forbes. = James, 15th Lord Forbes, 
ate James, 16th Lord Forbes. 



;r in = Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Hay, 
Bart., of Hayftoune, Co. Peebles. 



John, died 1 747, set. 7. 



Charles, died Chriftian, died Chriitian, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Grace, died Jane, Frances Far- 

young. young. m. m. m. young. m. quharfon. 

Midfhipman Sir Alex. Glengarry. Colin James Skene, 

H.M.S. Wood, M'Kenzie, Efq., of 

"Amethyft." K.C.M.G. Efq. ' Rubiflaw. 



TABLE II.— SHOWING THE DESCENDANTS 01 E 

sir w: L 



William, died before 
his father, in quaran- 
tine at Malta, unmar- 
ried, 1828. 



Sir John Stuart Hepburn, = Lady Harriet Louifa Anne 



eighth baronet. 



Kerr, daughter of William, 
fixth Marquis of Lothian. 



Harriet Williamina = Charles Henry Rollo, twentieth 
Lord Clinton. 



1. The Hon. Ada Harriet. 

2. The Hon. Mary Elizabeth. 

3. The Hon. Charles John Robert, born 

January 18, 1863. 

4. The Hon. Henry Walter, born December 

8, 1864. 

5. The Hon. Margaret Adela. 



Emma 
Rebecca 

1849. 



Sir William Stuart, ninth = Maria, daughter of J. Alexander =j=Williamina Joanna, daughter 



baronet of Monymusk 
and Pitfligo. 



Watts, Esq., of Nel- 
fons, New Zealand. 



Charles 



of J. Cochrane, Efq., 
Nairn, M.D. 



of 



Elizabeth 
Jane. 



Emma 
Louifa. 



Maria Ely. 



Charles Hay 
Hepburn. 



Kenneth 
M'Donell. 



Charlotte 
Hay. 



William 
Alexander. 



Ethel 
M'Donell. 



Henry 
Theodore. 



TABLE III.— SHOWING THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHN HAY FORBES, S 



1776, JOHN HAY FORBE 
Lord Medwyn, born Ser 
1776, died S. James' D; 
1854. 



William = Mar)' Anne, daughter 
of John Archer 
Houblon, Efq., of 
Hallingbury, Wel- 
ford, and Culver- 
thorpc. 



Helen. Elizabeth. 



Louifa renucl = George Ralph, third 
Lord Abercromby. 



Mary Anne = Walter Henry, 
nth Earl of 
Mar, thirteenth 
Earl of Kellie. 



Louifa. 



Harriet Sufannah=Hon. Auguflus 
Erfkine. 



Helen 
Ann. 



John 
Houblon. 



William Alexande J 

Penrofe, died 

young. 



Walter John 

Francis, 
Lord Erfkine. 



Lady Elyne 
Mary. 



Lady 

Conflance 

Elife. 



Hon. William Au- 
guflus Forbes. 



Lady Mar)', 
died young. 



Henry Walter 
Coningfby. 



Eveline Mary 
Elifc. 



IR WILLIAM FORBES, SEVENTH BARONET. 

:iAM FORBES = Williamina Belches Stuart, daughter of Sir John 
Belches Stuart of Fettercairn. 



ames Edmund. 



James David, D.C.L., LL.D. == Alicia, daughter of George Jane, died 1871. Elizabeth, died 

Wauchope, Efq. unmarried, 

1840. 



Eliza, died 1 S69. Williamina, Edmund George, B.A., Profeffor in the Alice, 
died 1870. Batten. Anderfonian Univerfity in 

Glafgow. 



Charles Hay. = Jemima Rebecca, daughter 
of Alexander Ranaldfon 
M'Donell, of Glengarry 
and Clanronald. 



inrietta 


1 
Jemima = 


= Rev. Walter Hiley, M.A. 
fon of R. Hiley, Efq. 
of Thorparch,Yorkfhire 


1 
, Adelaide Louifa = 


1 1 
= Rev. Francis R. Trail, John James 
Vicar of Stanway, Stuart. Edmund 
Gloucefterfhire. 








1 
Margaret 
2mima. 




Char] 

Forb 


1 1 
es Alan Richard. 
:s. Hugh. 


Erneft Sibyl 
Howland. Theodora. 


1 

Ronald 

M'Donell. 


1 
Margaret Louifa. 



3ND SON OF SIR WILLIAM FORBES, SIXTH BARONET. 

Louifa, daughter of Sir Alexander 
Cumming Gordon of Altyre, 
born 4th Auguft 1779, died nth 
July 1845. 



I 

:tharine Hay, 

died early. 



Jane Amelia, Alexander Penrofe, Mary, 
died early. in holy orders, died 

Bifhop of Brechin. 1829. 



George Hay, = Eleanor Maria Irby, 
in holy daughter of James 

orders. Wemyfs of Carifton, 

Major in the Scots 
Greys, and Fanny 
Wemyfs Wemyfs of 
Cuttle Hill. 



Charles John, 
died early. 



lizabeth Frances Amelia Louifa, Montagu, = George Frederick, George Ralph, = Lady Julia Georgina, 



Jane. Sophia, died died early, 

young. 



fixth Earl 
Glafgow. 



of 



4th Lord 
Abercromby. 



daughter of Adam, 
fecond Earl Cam- 
perdown. 



Hon. Hon. 
John. Ralph. 



Lady Gertrude 
Julia Georgina. 



Lady Muriel 
Louifa Diana. 



TABLE IV. 

SHOWING the DESCENDANTS of GEORGE FORBES, third fon of Sir 
William Forbes of Pitfligo, Bart., by Elizabeth, eldeft daughter of Sir James 
Hay of Smithfield and Hayftone, Bart., and Mary Hay, daughter of Sir John 
Hay of Hayftoune, Bart., by MARY, daughter of James, 17th Lord Forbes; 
were married at Drumfheugh Houfe, Edinburgh, on the 8th February 181 9, by 
the Right Rev. Bifhop Sandford. 

Charles William, born ift October 1820, at 14 Coates Crefcent. 

Mary, ,, 31ft December 1822, ,, ,, 

Elizabeth, ,, 24th May 1824; died 

Robert Hay, ,, 30th July 1825 ; died 

John Adam, ,, 7th Auguft 1826 ; died 

Henry, ,, 14th Auguft 1827 ; died 

George Edward ,, 8th Auguft 1828. 

Louis, ,, 13th January 1830. 

James Arthur, ,, 25th February 183 1. 

Duncan, ,, 5th Auguft 1832 ; died 

Alex. Reginald ,, 17th January 1834J 

Charles William, married, 28th Auguft i860, Jane Agnes, third daughter of Walter Long, Efq., 
M.P., of Rood Afhton, Wilts. 

Mary, only furviving daughter, married, 19th Sept. 1854, the Rev. Canon Thomas Dundas Harford 
Batterfby, fon of Abraham Grey Harford Batterfby, of Stoke Houfe, Clifton, Briftol, by Elizabeth 
Dundas, of Carron Hall, Stirlingfhire. 

Children of the above : — 

John Harford Batterfby, born 23d June 1857. 

Dundas, ,, 23d October 1858. 

George, ,, 15th January i860. 

Mary Elizabeth, ,, ift December 186 1. 

Alfred, ,, 30th October 1863. 

Charles Forbes, ,, 31ft December 1864. 

George Edward, married, nth June 1868, Louifa Lilias, fecond daughter of Archibald Trotter, 
Efq., of Dreghom, and has iffue : — 

Edward Archibald, bom 2d June 1869. 
Marion, ,, November 1872. 

Spencer Dundas, ,, May 1874. 

Louis, of the Madras Civil Service, married, 30th April 1853, Emma Frances, eldeft daughter of 
Lieut. -Colonel Colbeck, Madras Army; has iffue: — 

Florence Mary Emma, born 31ft Auguft 1853. 

James Arthur, Commander in the Royal Navy, married, 10th July 1867, Feame Jemima, daughter 

of the late James Kinnear, Esq., and widow of William Edmonftone Aytoun, D.C.L. ; has iffue : — 

Mary Conftance, born 27th May 1869. 

Arthur George, ,, December 1871. 

Charles Hay, ,, September 1873. 



11- 



SHOWING THE DESCENDANTS OF REBECCA 

ALEXANDER RANALDSON MACD 

b. 1774, -! 



Elizabeth = R. M'Donell of Cattle 
Tiaram. 
John Alitter. 
Emma Rebecca. Louifa Campbell = 
Elizabeth. (of Moiizie). 



Marcelly= Andrew Bonar, Efq. 
+ 1842. I 
John Andrew = E. A. Johntton, 



: Alexander. 
Euphemia. 
Anna Jane. 



+ .J874. 



John Andrew Macdonell. 



/Eneas = Jofephine Bennet Jemima 

+ 1852. + 1857. Rebecct 

See Table 

Alitter + 1862. 

/Eneas Robert + 1855. 

Marfaili = Hector Frederick M'Lean, El 

Charles = Agnes Campbell Caffells. 
+ 1868. 

Eliza Frances + 1857. 

Helen Rebecca = John Cuninghame, Ef( 

Somerled died 

an infant. 



li- 



nden 1 
John A li: 



kLE V. 

I THIRD DAUGHTER OF SIR WILLIAM FORBES. 

iLL of Glengary and Clanranald = REBECCA, 



28. 



b. 1802, + 1840. 



Louifa Caroline A fon died A fon died Guilliamina Forbes = Hugh Brown, Efq. of Newhall, Euphemia 

Chriftina. Hefter. early. early. died 1866. Margaret, 

Horatio Robert Forbes, b. 1854. + 1836. 

Alan Macdonell, b. 1855. 



f Balgownie. 



)hine Erfkine. 
ir Erfkine. 



TABLE VI.— SHOWING THE DESCENDANTS OF ELIZA 



COLIN MACKENZIE of Portmore married ELIZABETH FORBES 
in May 1803. 

1. Alexander, born 1804, died 1805. 

2. Alexander, bom 1806, died 1822. 

3. William Forbes, born 1807, died 1862 ; 

married in 1830 Helen Anne, daughter of Sir James Montgomery, 
Bart., and had iffue : — 

Elizabeth Helen, born 1832, died 1840. 
Colin James, born 1835 ; 

married in 1 87 1 Catherine Anne, daughter of Samuel Wauchope, 
and has iffue : — 

Helen Alice, born 1873. 
Elizabeth Maiy Hay, born 1874. 

4. Colin, in Bengal Civil Service ; bom 1808, died 1870. 

5. James Hay, bom 1809, died 1865 ; 

married Janet Ifabella Wedderburn, daughter of James Wedderburn, 
Advocate, Solicitor-General in 1819, in 1838, and had iffue : — 

Colin, bom 1841. 

James Wedderburn, born 1843, died 1844. 

Ifabella Elizabeth, born 1844 ; 

married Major-General J. A. V. Kirkland in 1S73, an d nas i*T ue : — 

Ifabella Sybilla. 

Alice, bom 1846, died 1846. 
Louifa Helen, bom 1847. 
Anne Chriftina, born 1850 ; 

married Edward Mordaunt Bannerman, Esq., in 1873, and has 
iffue : — 

Kenneth Mordaunt, bom 1874. 

George Wedderburn, born 1 85 1 . 
Jean Charlotte, bom 1852. 



TH, FOURTH DAUGHTER OF SIR WILLIAM FORBES. 



6. Elizabeth, born 1S11, died 1858 ; 

married in 1840 to George Dundas, Lord Manor, one of the Senators 

of the College of Juftice, and had iffue : — 

Elizabeth Chriftian, bom 1841. 

Tames, ) _, . , 

>,,.,,, . I Twins, born 1842. 
Colin Mackenzie, ) ' 

George Ralph, bom 1844, died 1869. 

Mary Frances, bom 1846. 

Helen Anne, bom 1847. 

■William John, born 1849. 

Katherine Louifa, bom 1850. 

David, born 1854. 

7. John, bom 1812 ; 

married in 1840 to Chriftina Garioch, daughter of J. Mansfield of Mid- 
mar, and had iffue : — 
Chriftina Garioch, born 1842, died 1844. 
Colin, born 1843 ; 
married in 1869 Jeanette Sophie, daughter of Baron Falkenberg, 
and has iffue : — 

Chriftina Frederica Augufta, born 1870. 
Ian Duncan, born 1 87 1. 
Ulric Kniit, born 1872. 

8. Anne, bom 1813. 

9. Catherine, born 1 8 14, died 1 832. 

10. Jane, born 1816, died 1820. 

11. Sutherland, Midfhipman, R.N. ; bom 1818, loft at fea 1842. 

12. George, bom 1819, died 1841. 

13. Louifa, bom 1820, died 1866; 

married in 1845 William Wilfon, C.S., Edinburgh, and had no iffue. 

14. Alice, bom 1823 ; 

married in 1 86 1 the Rev. Charles S. Grubb, Vicar of Mentmore, and 
has iffue : — 

Louifa Sarah, bom 1862. 
Conftance Anne, born 1867. 

15. The Right Reverend Charles Frederick, in holy orders, Fellow of Gon- 

ville and Caius, Cambridge, and Miffionary Bifhop in Zululand, 
South Africa ; bom 182S, died 1862. 



TA] 



SHOWING THE DESCENDANTS OF JANE, FIFTH DAUGH' 



(i) Georgina, dau. of = George, Sheriff- = (2) Married 
Alexander Monro, 
M.D., of Craig- 
lockhart. 






fubttitute of 
Glafgow, Pro- 
feffor of Law, 
b. 1807, m. 
1832. 



Catherine 

Elizabeth, 

dau. of James 

Tytler, Efq., of 

Woodhoufelee. 



I 

W illiam 

Forbes, LL.D. 

b. 1S09. 



1. James Francis, + 1863. 

2. Maria Ifabella. 

3. Jane Georgina, = George M. Tytler, 

+ 1871. Efq. 

1. Alex. Frafer, + 1869. 

2. Blanche Georgina, -I- 187 1. 

3. George William, + 1868. 

4. Maurice William Frafer. 

5. Georgina Mabel Kate. 

4. Katherine Elizabeth = George Chan- 

cellor, W.S. 



I 
Eliza = R de Heidenflam, 
Swedifh Envoy to 
Greece (1840). 

Ofcar Guftaf, Secretary of 
Legation at Conftanti- 
nople. 

Charles Frederick, Phy- 
fician in Turkifh fervice. 

Eugene Albrecht, Turkifh 
fervice. 

Rudolph Bafil, civil engi- 
neer. 

Adele Wilelmine Marie. 



ames 


b. 


181 


M 


. C 


Alepj 


1. 


Tax 


2. 


Ai 


3- 


An 


4- 


Fe 




cl 







V 


Gc 




K 



6. Zo 



1. Ellen Mar)', 

2. Zoe Mary, 

3. Irene Mary. 

4. Robert Douglas 



twins. 



twins. 



Lloyd Hervey, ") 
Grace Gwendolen, f 
Francis Rofllj-n Courtenay. 
Rofmond Hilda. 
Wilfred Montagu. 



7- J 



.E VII. 

i OF SIR WILLIAM FORBES = JAMES SKENE, Esq. of Rubislaw. 



enry= Rhalou, dau. of Jane Helen, 

Signor Rhizos b. 1S13, 

Rhangabe, by a died in 

niece of Prince youth. 
Soutzo (iS33). 



LB. 

i at 



Catherine 
b. 1S35. 



J. Fofter Grierfon, 
Efq. , of Dublin 
(1841). 



Alecco "William, 

1+ 1S40. 

t daughter, + 



+ 1838. 



1. George + 1874. 

2. John Thornton Skene. 



ames Henry 
to the Houfe 
rds. 



Mifs Jane Hoffack. 



„ Felix. 

William Forbes. 
William Charles Forbes, 
r of Fontmell Magna. 

vlost Rev. W. Thomfon, D.D., 
Lord Archbifhop of York. 

tlthel Zoe. 

Vilfred Forbes Home. 

ocelyn Home. 

Safil Home. 

oe Jane. 

eatrice Mary. 

Jexandra. 

^ernard Hemy Home. 

= Rev. Stuart Lloyd Bruce, rector 
of Scalby and Canon of York, 
fon of Sir Jas. Bruce, Bart., 01 
Downhill, Ireland. 



Caroline 
Christian 
b. 1S1S. 



2. 
3- 

4- 

5- 
6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 
10. 
11. 
12. 



Alexander 
Rhizos Rhan- 
gabe, Greek 
Envoy at' 
Berlin. 



Mary 
Frances 
Felicia, 
b. 1822. 



Cleon, 1 841, di- = Dora von Gerold, 
plomatic agent d. of Baron Von 

at Buchareft. Gerold. 

Has two children. 

Arifton, 1842, + 1846. 

Heracles. 

Ariftides = Lucie Baltazzi. 
Has one child. 

Alexis, attached to Legation at Berlin. 

Emile, + 1 834. 

Eugene. 

Zoe. 

Otho. 

Amelie. 

Helena, 

Ch. Heraclea 



.} 



twins. 



TABLE VIIL— SHOWING THE DESCENT OF SIR WI 



Sir John Forbes, 3d 
Baronet. 



John Forbes, died 
before his father. 



Sir William Forbes, 5th 
Baronet. 



Sir William For 1 
Baronet. 



Sir William Forbes, 
4th Baronet. 



I 



Hon. Margaret Arbuth- J 
v. not. 



Lady Jean Keith. 



John, 1 ft Earl of 
Kintore. 



Lady Margaret 
L Hamilton. 



Alexander, 2d Lord 
Pitfligo. 



Hon. Mary Forbes, 
afterwards wife of 
James, 15th Lord 
Forbes. . 



Alexander, 3d Lord 
Pitfligo. 



Lady Mary Erfkine. 



John, 4th Earl of Mar. 



Lady Sophia Erfkine. 



^ Lady Jane Mackenzie. • 



Jean Burnet. 



Robert, ift Vifc 
not. 



Lady Marjory C; 



William, 6th Ear 



Lady Margaret E 



Thomas, 2d Earl 
ton. 



Lady Jean Gordc 



Alexander, I ft L 



Lady Jean Keith. 



James, 6th Earl c 



Mary Douglas, 
Buchan. 



John, 3d Earl of ! 
Lady Chrlftian H 
George, 2d Earl c 

Barbara Forbes. 



LAM FORBES, FIFTH BARONET OF MONYMUSK. 



!Sir William Forbes of Mony- 
mulk, i ft Baronet. 
Elizabeth Wifhart. 

!Sir Thomas Burnet of Leys, 
I ft Baronet. 
Margaret Douglas. 

\ Sir Robert Arbuthnot of Arrat. 

( Hon. Margaret Frafer. 

\ David, i ft Earl of Southefk. 

( Margaret Lindfay. 

( George, 5th Earl Marifchal 
J of Scotland. 

( Hon. Margaret Hume. 

!John, 2d Earl of Mar, KG. 
Lady Mary Stewart. 

( Thomas, ift Earl of Hadding- 
; ton. 

f Margaret Foulis. 

V George, 2d Marquis of Huntly. 

/ Lady Anne Campbell. 

\ John Forbes of Pitfligo. 

f Chriftian Ogilvy. 

[ William, 6th Earl Marifchal. 

[ Lady Margaret Erfkine. 

I John, 2d Earl of Mar. 

Lady Mary Stewart. 
1 James, 5th Earl of Buchan. 

Margaret Ogilvy. 
I John, 2d Earl of Mar. 

Ann Drummond. 

Francis, 8th Earl of Errol. 

Lady Elizabeth Douglas. 

Kenneth, ift Lord Kintail. 

Elizabeth Ogilvy. 

Arthur, 9th Lord Forbes. 
Jean Elphinfton. 



I William Forbes of Monymufk. 

( Lady Margaret Douglas, dau. of William, 10th Earl of Angus. 

Tohn Wiihart of Pitarrow. 

Lady Jane Douglas, dau. of William, 10th Earl of Angus. 

Alexander Burnet of Leys. 

Katlierine, dau. of Alexander Gordon of Lefmoir. 

Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, Baronet, fon of William, 10th Earl of Angus. 

Elizabeth, dau. of Sir George Auchiuleck of Balmanno. 

James Arbuthnot of Arrat. 

"Margaret, dau. of John Livingfton of Dunipace. 

Simon, 7th Lord Lovat. 

Jean Stewart, dau. of James, ift Lord Doun. 

David Carnegy of Colluthy. 

Eupheme, dau. of Sir John Wemyfs of Wemyfs. 

Sir David Lindfay of Edzell, Knight, fon of David, 9th Earl of Crawford. 

Lady Helen Lindfay, dau. of David, 10th Earl of Crawford. 

William, Lord Keith, Matter of Marifchal. 

Lady Elizabeth Hay, dau. of George, 8th Earl of Errol. 

Alexander, 5th Lord Hume. 

Margaret, dau. of Sir William Ker of Cefsford. 
j John, Earl of Mar, ift Earl of the Erfkine family. 
( Annabella, dau. of Sir William Murray of Tullibardine. 

Efme, ift Duke of Lennox. 

Catherine de Balfac, dau. of Guillaume, Sieur d'Entragues. 

Sir Thomas Hamilton of Prieftfield. 

Elizabeth, dau. of James Heriot of Trabroun. 
James Foulis of Colinton. 

Agnes, dau. of Mr. Robert Heriot of Lumphoy. 

George, ift Marquis of Huntly. 

Lady Henrietta Stewart, dau. of Efme, ift Duke of Lennox. 
I Archibald, 7th Earl of Argyll. 
( Lady Agnes Douglas, dau. of William, 7th Earl of Morton. 

Alexander Forbes of Pitfligo. 

Barbara Keith, dau. of William, 4th Earl Marifchal. 
( Walter, ift Lord Ogilvy of Defkford. 
( Agnes, dau. of Robert, 3d Lord Elphinfton. 
\ George, 5th Earl Marifchal of Scotland. 
( Margaret, dau. of Alexander, 4th Lord Home. 
( John, 2d Earl of Mar. 

( Mary Stewart, dau. of Efme, ift Duke of Lennox. 
I John, ift Earl of Mar, Regent. 

( Annabella, dau. of Sir William Murray of Tullibardine, Knight. 
Efme, ift Duke of Lennox. 

Catherine de Balfac, dau. of William, Seigneur d'Entragues. 
Robert, 4th Earl of Buchan. 

Chriftian Stewart, Countefs of Buchan, dau. and heirefs of John, 3d Earl of Buchan. 
Walter, ift Lord Ogilvy of Defkford. 
Maiy Douglas, dau. of William, 7th Earl of Morton. 
John, Earl of Mar, Regent. 

Annabella, dau. of Sir William Murray of Tullibardine, Knight. 
David, 2d Lord Drummond. 
Lilias, dau. of William, 2d Lord Ruthven. 
Andrew, 8th Earl of Errol. 
Jean Hay, dau. of William, 6th Earl of Errol. 
William, 7th Earl of Morton. 
Agnes Lefley, dau. of George, 3d Earl of Rothes. 
Colin M'Kenzie of Kintail. 
Barbara, dau. of John Grant of Grant. 
Sir Gilbert Ogilvy of Ogilvy and Powie, Knight. 
Sybilla, dau. of David, 2d Lord Drummond. 
John, 8th Lord Forbes. 

Janet, dau. of Sir William Seton of Touch, Knight. 
Alexander, 4th Lord Elphinftone. 
Jean, dau. of William, 6th Lord Livingftone. 



